E.S.C. quarterly

The E. S. C. Quarterly
VOLUME 13, NO. 3-4 SUMMER-FALL, 1955
Industrial, Commercial, Institutional and Residential
Construction in N. C. in 1955 Broke All Former Records
illii
Vivo remarkable and unusual buildings in North Carolina—Charlotte Auditorium-Coliseum, top, and State
Fair Arena, Raleigh (descriptions on page 79.)
PUBLISHED BY
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
RALEIGH, N. C.
PAGE 78 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1955
The E. S. C. Quarterly
(Formerly The U.CC. Quarterly)
Vol. 14 No. 3-4 Summer-Fall, 1955
.«« Isfeued at Ra,i elgli, N. C. by the
5M?1QYMENT StCURiTY COMMISSION OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners: Mrs. Quentin Gregory, Halifax; Dr. Harry D.
Wolf. Chapel Hill; R. Dave Hall, Belmont; W. Benton Pipkin,
Reidsville; Bruce E. Davis, Charlotte; Crayon C. Efird, Al-bemarle.
State Advisory Council: Public representatives: James A. Brid-ger,
Bladenboro, Chairman; Sherwood Roberson, Roberson-ville;
W. B. Horton, Yanceyville; Mrs. R. C. Lewellyn, Dob-son,
and Dr. J. W. Seabrook, Payetteville; Employer repre-sentatives:
A. L. Tait, Lincolnton, and W. A. Egerton, Enka;
Employee representatives: Melvin Ward, Spencer, AFL, and
H. D. Lisk, Charlotte, CIO.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN Director
Unemployment Insurance Division
JOSEPH W. BEACH Director
North Carolina State Employment Service Division
M. R. DUNNAGAN Editor
Public Information Officer
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: E. S. C. Informational
Service, P. 0. Pox 5S9. Raleigh. N. C.
CONTENTS ~P~a~ge
N. C. Building Construction 78
Construction Industry Made Heavy Gains in N. C. in Decade 79
By Robert G. Kellogg
Front Page Pictures, Charlotte Auditorium-Coliseum, State Fair Arena. ... 79
Healthy 16-Year Industry Diversion Bolsters N. C. Economy 82
By Hugh M. Raper
Industry Joins ESC Personn-1 at Institute : Hodges Speaks 83
Highlights of Durham's Industry and Employment 84
By Elizabeth DeKay Johnson
Most of N. C. Large Contractors in Issue: More Sought 86
Carolinas Branch, AGC, Nation's Largest, Most Effective 87
Building Contractors Big Contributors to State Growth 87
J. A. Jones Constr. Co., McDevitt & Street Co (Thompson & Street
Co.), F. N. Thompson, Inc., Southeastern Constr. Co., C. M. Guest &
Sons, H. L. Coble Constr. Co , T. A. Loving & Co., George W. Kane,
Wm. Muirhead Constr. Co., Goode Constr. Corp , J. M. Thompson Co.,
Fowler-Jones Constr. Co., W. H. Weaver Constr. Co., King-Hunter,
Inc.. Barger Constr. Co., Robert H Pinnix, L. B. Gallimore, Contrane-
Graham Constr. Co., Littlei Constr. Co., West Building Co., Crain &
Denbo, Inc., 0. W. Goodwin, Inc., Wm. B. Oillard Constr. Co., Mer-chant
Constr. Co., Player Realty & Constr. Co , Johnson & Geddes,
E. G. Wilson Constr. Co., A. A. Ramsey & Son, Frank L Blum Constr.
Co., Hickory Constr. Co., Rogers Constr. Co., Wrenn-Wilson Constr.
Co., L. P. Cox Co., Du Bose Constr. Co , 0. L. Shackelford, Inc.,
Potts-Brown Co., Guy Frye & Sons, M. C, Crouch Lumber Co., H. D.
Barnes, Inc.
Over 10,000 New Employers to be Covered by ES Law 97
Developers-Builders Add Many Residence-Business Areas 120
Ervin Constr. Co., Marsh Realty Co., C. D. Spangler Constr. Co., York
Building Co.
N. C. Chapter, AIA, maintains High Professional Standards 125
Architects-Engineers Design, Supervise, Build Structures 125
J. N. Pease & Co., Six Associates, Inc.
Professional Engineers Promote Ethics and Competency...: 126
N. C. Society of Engineers Has 1400 Members 127
Many State Architects Win High Honors in Designs 128
A. G. Odell. Jr., & Associates, Leslie Boney, Small & Boaz, Deitrick-
McKnight & Associates, Clemmer & Horton, F. Carter Williams.
Special Trades Contractors Vital Group in Construction 129
Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning Group Protects Public 129
By A. Miles Hughey
Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning: Buensod-Stacey, Inc., Rowe-
Goodin-Jones, Inc., The Bonitz Insulation Co., Brownlow's, Inc.,
Stahl-Kider, Inc., Industrial Piping, Inc., Nicholson's, Inc., A. Z.
Price & Associates, Starr Davis Co.. Guy M. Beatty & Co., W. H.
Arthur Co. ; Sprinkling, Viking Sprinkler Co.
Painting, Paper Hanging, Decorating: D. C May Co., Brewer Paint
& Wallpaper Co., Claude M. May.
Electrical Contractors: Starr "Electric Co., Bryant Electric Co.,
Thompson Electric Co., Talley Electric Co., Colter & Chappel Elec-tric
Co., Hayes & Lunsford Electric Co.
Masonry, Stone Work. Tile Setting, Plastering: Mams Marble & Tile
Co., C. W. Kirkland Co., Shields, Inc., Jamts A. Smith & Son, Kal-man
Floor Co.
Roofing & Sheet Metal Work: Budd-Piper Roofing Co., Ingold Com-pany,
E. L. Scott Roofing & Heating Co.. The Young Co., Gate City
Roofing Co.
Handicapped Workers Add Much to State's Labor Force 153
By Ernest C. MeCracken
'Farm Placement Day' Expands Growers-Workers Services.... 154
Absenteeism Experience of Selected North Carolina Firms 155
By Hugh M. Raper
Big Gain in New Over Defunct Manufacturing Firms 157
By E. Stanhope Dunn
Note—Articles in this issue, not otherwise credited, written by M. R.
Dunnagan, Editor, some revised by firm officials.
N. C. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
North Carolina experienced its greatest building
year in 1955, exceeding the former record year ol
1953. Estimates, considered conservative, indicate
that construction costs in 1955 approach $500,000,-
000. Employment Security Commission records for
the first six months of 1955 indicated that average
monthly employment in all construction would exceec
42,000 as against 38,572 in 1954 and 41,420 in 1953
Construction payrolls for 1955 are estimated close tc
$165,000,000.
This issue deals with what may be termed by com-parison
as lighter construction, or building construc-tion,
as handled by general contractors and specia
building trades contractors, usually referred t(
as sub-contractors, even though a fair portion o:
their work is as prime contractors. In this classifica
tion are five major divisions: industrial, commer
cial, institutional, residential and governmental con
struction. Not handled in this issue, except for i
slight overlapping, are heavier construction con
tractors—those handling highways, large bridges
hydro-electric dam and plant construction, railroad:
and other heavier construction.
In the building construction, lighter construction
estimates place at $325,000,000 the total expendi
tures for 1955. General contractors and specia
trades contractors were expected to pay their em
ployees close to $110,000,000, fairly evenly divide(
between the two groups. For 1953, ESC record;
show, general contractors spent for employmen
$51,682,882 and the sub-contractors paid their work
ers $51,638,954—very little difference. In 1954 th
general contractors paid in wages and salaries $47,
457,386, while the sub-contractors (special trades)
paid their workers $51,421,489, almost $4,000,00'
more than the general contractors paid.
In the first six months of 1955 there were 681 gen
eral contractors employing a monthly average o
18,913 workers, against 16,196 in 1954 and 18,35
in 1953 (both first six months) , and 873 special trad
contractors employing a monthly average of 15,42
workers, against 14,676 in 1954 and 18,350 in 195?'
all for the first six months. The employers here ar
those subject to the Employment Security Law, noil
mally with eight or more employees. Many smai
contractors in both of these groups would raise th;
total several thousand, probably 5,000 to 8,000.
Some space is given to architects and engineers i
this issue, along with special trade contractors i
Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning; Painting
Papering and Decorating; Electrical Contracting!
Masonry, Stone Work, Tile Setting and Plastering!
Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors and Miscellail
eous Special Trade Contractors.
Present plans are to handle heavy construction, s\
described above, in our next issue. Since severa
though not all, concrete work contractors, includin,
contractors, are in road and street building and othej
heavy projects, intentions are to include them in tr
next issue.
NOTE—INDEX for two years, 1953-54, Vols. 11
12, postponed from last issue, had to be postpone
again, due to space limitations. Plans are to incluc
it in next issue.
Summer-Fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PA3E 79
mMM 11111
Construction Industry Made Heavy Gains in N.C. in Decade
By Robert G. Kellogg, Research & Methods Specialist, ESC Bureau of Research and Statistics
Since the end of World War II a greatly increased
piarket for industrial buildings and houses has pre-vailed
in North Carolina. This demand has brought
about several significant changes in the construction
industry : changes not only resulting in rapid growth
and expansion, but in existing trades becoming more
specialized.
This article will deal with these changes; how
;hey have influenced the growth and establishment
pf individual firms; the effect on employment and
(wages ; and the experience of the industry with un-employment,
and how this concerns not only the in-dividual
worker, but the whole economy as well,
i The construction industry is generally classified
nto three broad divisions: general building con-struction,
heavy construction and the special trades.
Heavy construction, i.e., highways, bridges, rail-roads,
dams, etc., is excluded from this article. Con-sideration
will be given to the general building and
special-trade contractors only.
General contractors are primarily engaged in the
construction of buildings such as private residences,
ipartment buildings, farm buildings, industrial and
ommercial structures including stores, light and
power plants, natural gas compressing stations, and
)il pumping stations; public buildings; and the al-
;eration and repair of these structures.
Today in the era of specialization, contractors in
;he special trades render services at the site of con-struction
either directly to the builder or as a sub-
:ontractor. Among the special trades are : plumb-ng,
heating, and air conditioning; painting, paper
langing, and decorating ; electrical installation ; ma-sonry,
stonework, tile setting, and plastering; car-pentering
and wood flooring ; roofing and sheet-metal
work; concreting work; general building mainten-ance
; and such miscellaneous trades as : structural
steel erection and ornamental metal work ; glass and
glazing ; excavation and foundation work ; wrecking
md demolition ; installation of machinery and equip-ment;
and insulating, shoreing, waterproofing, and
scaffolding erection ; house moving ; and dismantling
ndustrial machinery and equipment.
Between 1946 and 1955 the number of construc-
:ion firms covered by the Employment Security Law
las more than doubled. Those firms covered under
:he Law include all firms employing eight or more
workers, and those employing less than eight per-
TABLE I
Covered Employment and Wages Building Trades 1946-1955
YEAR
Number
Of
Firms
Monthly
Employ-vient
Annual
Gross
Wages
1946 636 25,515 $ 49,403,172
947 795 29,404 62,163,703
i948 872 32,002 71,272,909
949 1,022 28,375 67,873,216
950 1,083 35,272 84,367,530
951 1,200 42,040 107,707,642
952 1,333 37,925 107,505,292
953 1,528 34,369 103,321,836
954 1,554 32,493 98,878,875
955* 1,562 31,872
* First Quarter—(Relatively inactive season)
Average
Weekly
Earning
: 38.23
41.72
43.98
46.55
46.84
50.31
55.14
58.25
58.81
Park restaurant and observation lounge, Mt. Mitchell State
Park, costing about $100,000 with equipment ; built
by Hickory Construction Co., Hickory.
sons who elect voluntary coverage, thereby qualify-ing
their workers for unemployment insurance bene-fits
in the event of involuntary separations. In 1946
there were 636 construction firms ; by 1955 the num-ber
had increased to 1,562—a growth of nearly 150
percent. At the beginning of 1955 there were 685
general building firms and 877 special-trade con-tracting
concerns.
Among the general construction firms the number
of workers employed varies from less than eight
FRONT PAGE PICTURES
CHARLOTTE AUDITORIUM-COLISEUM—The Charlotte Auditorium and
Coliseum, costing approximately $4,700,000, have been described as "the most
modern and practical of their kind in the world." The two structures are on
a 22-acre site with a 13,000 car-parking area, three miles from the heart of
Charlotte on an eight-lane boulevard. The two buildings are 300 yards apart
and connected by a covered terraced walkway. The facilities were built by
Thompson & Street, general contractor, Charlotte, on plans drawn by A. G.
Odell, Jr., Charlotte architect.
The coliseum was dedicated in early October by Evangelist Billy Graham,
distinguished Charlotte native, with 13,000 people present. The coliseum is
round construction with radio steel ribs and framing steel. The exterior
walls are pre-cast concrete and glass and the roof is of structural steel with
light-weight concrete deck covered with aluminum. The dome, 332 ft. in
diameter, weighs one pound to the sq. ft. and is said to be the largest struc-tural
steel dome in the world. It is 135 feet high. The coliseum is designed
for conventions, indoor fairs, sports events, rodeos, circuses, water and ice
shows and trade shows. The arena is 100x212 feet. About 70,000 persons
attended the eight Ice Capades' performances.
The auditorium, seating 2,500, designed for concerts, ballets, operas and
the like, seats 1,500 on the main floor and 1,000 in the balcony. The stage is
100x50 feet. The interior color is deep blue and the building is said to be
acoustically perfect, sound proof and air conditioned.
THE STATE FAIR ARENA—also called coliseum, livestock judging pavil'on
(cow pasture) on the State Fair Grounds, just west of Raleigh, has been de-scribed
as America's most modern big building, a new epoch in architecture,
with ideal seating arrangement, the most significant building of late times,
the most important building in America today, offers an experience unparal-leled
even in a visit to the United Nations Building or Lever House in New
York, and many others.
The Arena is designed to serve agriculture, industry, commerce and the
people of North Carolina generally as a year-around center for educational,
inspirational and recreational events. The building is 300 feet in diameter,
elliptical in shape, with central arena floor 221 feet long and 127 feet at the
widest part of the ellipse. It contains 6,080 permanent opera-type and box
seats, with space for about 4,000 portable seats. About 25.000 square feet of
display space is provided in the lobbies and lower-level concourses.
The building is, at the lobby level, of translucent heat-absorbing plate
glass, and of translucent glass above. The roof, saddle-shaped, is suspended
on cables between 90-feet parabolic arches, probably the largest suspended
roof in existence. It is of a combination metal-asbestos insulation-built-in
construction. The roof is white, the outside of a light green tint. Adequate
lighting, hot air heat and ventilation are provided.
The Arena, exclusive of grounds, landscaping, portable seats and other
portable fixtures, cost approximately $1,600,000. It was built by William
Muirhead Construction Co., Durham, to plans drawn by William Henley
Deitrick, architect, Raleigh, with the late Matthew Nowicki, N. C. State
College, as consultant, and Severud-Elstad-Krueger, New York, as consulting
engineers. E. F. Matteson was general superintendent and E. A. Fulton, job
superintendent. Other contractors were Thompson Electrical Co., Raleigh;
Smith & Mills, Plumbing, Raleigh; Thompkins-Johnston, heating. Charlotte;
Ptahl-Rider. air distribution, Raleigh, and Southern Desk Co., seating. Hickory.
The arena is the realization of a dream of many years of Dr. J. S. Dorton,
State Fair manager.
PAGE 80 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 195!
(voluntary coverage) to
over 500. A total of 663
firms employ fewer than
100 workers ; 20 firms be-tween
100 and 250 per-sons,
while only three
hire over 400 workers.
In the special-trade
group, over 265 firms en-gage
in the plumbing,
heating, and air condi-tioning
fields; 135 spe-cialize
in masonry, stone-work,
tile setting, and
plastering ; and 120 firms
are classified in the elec-trical
field. There are
nearly 100 roofing and
sheet - metal work con-tractors
; and about 65
painting, paper hanging,
and decorating concerns.
Of a total of 877 of these
special - trade firms, 10
employ over 100 workers. The plumbing, heating,
and air conditioning trades account for 4 of the 10
firms with over 100 employees.
Employment in the construction trades showed
rapid growth between 1946 and 1951 by increasing
from a monthly employment average of 25,515 cov-ered
workers in 1946 to 35,272 in 1950 and 42,040
workers in 1951, the peak employment year. By 1954
the average monthly employment level had decreased
to 32,493 workers, the lowest since 1946. Several
factors should be considered when explaining em-ployment
losses since 1951. Rising costs of building
materials and increased wage patterns have caused
some contractors to keep personnel requirements at
a bare minimum. Innovations in building methods,
plus new time-saving materials have contributed in
some degree to the pattern of employment decline.
During the first quarter of 1955, a total of 31,872
workers were covered during an average month
;
this is no indication, however, of further declines
since the first quarter is normally a slack period.
Generally a higher level of employment is experi-enced
by the building trades during July, August,
and September; consequently there is variance in
employment during the year, particularly among the
larger firms. Although these seasonal factors affect
the building trades, the industry has shown marked
stability in the number of workers who maintain
year-round employment. When the level of build-ing
is high, workers involuntarily separated from
The Atomic Energy Commission's Gaseous Diffusion Plant i
Oak Ridge covers some 600 acres and contains five larg^
process buildings in addition, to 10 other related buildings. .
portion of the plant is shown here; built by J. A. Jones Cot
struction Go.
one job are able to secure another. This has bee
the normal pattern until last year (1954) when cui
tailed construction prevented a larger proportion c
workers from obtaining secondary jobs during th
periods when seasonal limitations forced them froi
their regular employment.
Annual gross wages paid to workers in the buik
ing trades during 1954 amounted to nearly $99 mi
lion. In 1946 a total of $49.4 million was paid i
wages. During the peak employment year of 195;
a record amount of $107.7 million in gross wag*
was established. The $49.4 million in 1946 was pai
to 25,515 workers, resulting in an average weekl
earning of $38.23. Average weekly earnings ha\
consistently increased during the past ten years r<
gardless of employment fluctuations. The large;
individual earning of $58.81 was paid in 1954; th]
being an earnings increase of over 50 percent sin(!
1946.
Because of wide variance in skill levels amorj
construction workers, individual wage payments dij
fer widely. Wage scales generally vary between i
high of $3.00 per hour for skilled labor and a low <
about $1.00 hourly for unskilled workers. Journe;|
men naturally receive the higher pay rates, wit
bricklayers commanding the highest hourly rate, fc
lowed by electricians, plumbers, plasterers, carpel
ters, and painters. Considering the average week
earnings of $58.81 in North Carolina during 1954 8
TABLE II
Proration of Taxable Payrolls and Benefit Charges
Building Trades 1949-1954
Construction Payrolls As Percent of Benefit Char\
Moreh end Planetarium at Chapel Hill, erected by J. A. Jones
Construction Co., Charlotte.
Fiscal l'ear %ofCivered Payroll Chargeabt e to Const rut
1949-1950 4.94% 4.37%
1950-1951 5.6,8% 2.55%
1951-1952.. 6.05% 2.48%
1952-1953.. 5.33% 4.29%
1953-1954.. 4.95% 5.93%
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 81
being payment for a
forty - hour work week,
the average hourly earn-ing
would be $1.47.
New firms employing
eight or more workers
are required to contri-bute
2.7 percent of their
taxable payroll (that
portion consisting of the
first $3,000 of each work-er's
earnings) to the un-employment
insurance
fund in order to insure
their voluntarily separa-ted
workers of unemploy-ent
benefits. After two-lus
years of experience
nder the program, the
mployer is eligible for a
rate reduction. This reduction is dependent on the
individual firm's experience with employment separa-tions,
and the amount of benefits paid to those work-ers.
Normally a firm must contribute more to the
fund than is charged against its account for bene-fits
to unemployed workers.
A total of 1,292 construction firms (83 percent)
have rated accounts during 1955. The combined
payroll of these firms constitutes 93 percent of the
total taxable payroll of the construction industry.
Over 22 percent (296 firms) of the 1,292 firms elig-ible
for rate reductions contribute at the reduced
minimum rate of 0.1%; these 0.1% contributions
had only 10 percent of the total payroll of rated con-struction
accounts. Only 52 firms (4 percent) are
currently contributing the maximum rate of 2.7 per-cent.
The payroll of these firms amounts to 2.6 per-cent
of the total taxable payroll for rated accounts
in the construction industry. The average contribu-tion
rate for construction firms in 1954 was 1.59
percent, 1.25 percent in 1953; 1.51 percent in 1952;
and 1.76 percent in 1951. The average contribution
rate of 1.59 percent in 1954 compares favorably with
other industries, such as manufacturing with a 1.62
percent average. The average contribution rate for
all industries was 1.52 percent in 1954.
When relating the percent of construction firms
receiving reduced rates with all other industries it
is found that construction ranks favorably, with 96
percent of all firms having rated accounts earning a
rate reduction. This is compared with 86 percent of
manufacturing firms receiving the same considera-tion
; 84 percent of agriculture, forestry, and fishing
organizations ; and those industries in a more advan-tageous
position, such as : wholesale and retail trade
with 98 percent receiving reductions ; service indus-tries,
98 percent; transportation, communication,
TABLE III
Distribution of Benefit Charges Building Trades
Fiscal Year
Taxable
Payroll
Benefits Charged
In Rate Com-putation
Cost I
of Ta
'actor as %
xable Pay-roll
1949-50
1950-51..
$ 63,357,000 $ 830,196
86,714,000 274,849
92,813,000 540,680
89,464,000 375,545
81,109,000 1,247,962
Five Year Period
1.31
32
1951-52.
1952-53..
1953-54
.58
.42
1.54
.769
Riegel Paper Corp., Riegel-Carolina 200-ton bleached pulp
plant at Acme near Wilmington: built by C. M. Guest & Sons,
Greensboro.
and utility firms 98 percent; and 99 percent of the
finance, insurance, and real estate firms collectively
qualifying for reduced rates.
Equally important is the amount of benefits paid
to unemployed construction workers, since the per-cent
of benefit charges regulates the percent of total
taxable payroll that must be contributed. Table II
shows the percent of taxable payrolls contributed by
the construction industry during the period 1949-
1954 as well as benefit charges for each year.
For 1953-1954 the percent of benefits charged
against the construction industry exceeded the
amount contributed: 5.93 percent in benefits as
against 4.95 percent share of payrolls. This fact is
not too significant when the entire five year period
is viewed, for during this period the construction in-dustry
contributed 5.34 percent of the total state-wide
taxable payroll but only received 3.86 percent
of the benefit awards. In general construction bene-fits
about equalled contributions during this period
;
however in the special-trades group the amount
awarded in benefits was only about half of the con-tribution
amount.
The cost factor is the percent of the taxable pay-roll
which an industry contributes to the program in
relation to benefits charged ; cost factor = benefits
divided by payroll. Table III shows the cost factor
for selected periods. It can be seen that the 1.54%
cost factor in 1954 was the highest in five years.
The year 1954 was not economically ideal for the
construction industry. Benefits exceeded contribu-tions,
and the cost factor had increased to 1.54 per-cent,
but still the cost factor in the manufacturing
industry (1.70 percent) was higher. The general
recession prevailing during the latter part of 1953
and most of 1954 had an affect on the construction
industry. Unemployed manufacturing workers do
not generally build new homes. More turnover
among the unskilled workers became evident during
this year, and many workers experienced difficulties
for the first time in finding a new job when involun-tarily
separated from their regular employment.
Increased building activity during 1955 indicates
that the industry will continue to contribute signifi-cantly
to the economic growth of North Carolina.
PAGE 82 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 195;
A7
. ('. State Health Building on Caswell
stories high and costing about $578,000;
struction Co., Smithfteld.
Square, Raleigh, si
built by Rogers Coi
Healthy 16-Year Industry Diversion Bolsters N. C. Economy
Hugh M. Raper, Director of Research and Statistics, ESC
The presence of growth usually suggests a healthy-state
of being and this consideration of growth de-velopments
in the unemployment insurance coverage
in North Carolina in the 16-year period (1939-1954,
inclusive) points to the very healthy condition of the
North Carolina economy.
From a national viewpoint the 16-year period from
1939 to 1955 saw a great increase in population and
economic activity. While the population of conti-nental
United States increased from about 130 to
164 million and the civilian labor force from 52 to
64 million, the average number of workers covered
by unemployment insurance increased from about
21.4 million in 1939 to about 35.4 million in 1954.
This represents a change in insured employment for
the nation of 65.4 percent.
Looking at the broad over-all measures of the in-crease
in average monthly employment covered by
the unemployment insurance in North Carolina we
find that the' all-industry growth represented by the
increase from 462,000 in 1939 to 714,000 in 1954—
a
net increase of 252,000—amounts to a relative
growth of 55 percent.
In any consideration of employment advance in
North Carolina in this 16-year period one is struck
by the development of more than 250,000 non-agri-cultural
jobs covered by the program. Practically all
of these jobs in North Carolina represent economic
advance since the basic coverage provisions in this
State have not been materially changed. In this pe-riod,
however, eight of the States lowered their cov-erage
provisions to yield an increase in coverage
that does not represent economic growth. This to
some extent accounts for the higher relative national
advance, 65 percent as compared with North Caro-lina's
55 percent rise.
Rather surprising is the finding that while more
than half of North Carolina's insured workers are
engaged in manufacture the relative growth of the
manufacturing segment has lagged behind growth
in other sizeable groupings, such as: contract con-struction
; transportation, utilities and communica-tions;
trade establishments; finance, insurance and
real estate; and, service industries.
While average covered employment in manufac-tures
had a relative advance of only 36.3 percent
these other segments had relative advances ranging
from 73 to 146 percent. This is explained largely
by the fact that North Carolina's manufacturing
economy had experienced a very rapid growth in the
1920's and 1930's. Manufacturing employment in
1939 represented more than 68 percent of the insured
worker group, but by 1954 this percentage relation-ship
had declined and manufacturing employment
contributed only 60.2 percent of the insured employ-ment.
The real explanation of the lag in relative advance
for manufacturing, however, is found in an exami-nation
of what took place in textile employment in
this 16-year period. In 1939 textile employment rep-resented
almost two-thirds of all manufacturing em-ployment
while by 1954 the textile component was
less than half of all manufacturing employment. In
other words, of all major manufacturing groups, the
relative advance of textiles was the weakest of all
only 14.1 percent. Only leather and leather proc
ucts had a worse experience in the period.
Rather than consider the factors explaining th
low growth rate in textile employment in this 16-yea
period, it seems better to note the manufacturin
fields that have shown both absolute and relati\
(Continued on page 86)
CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT COVERED BY UNEMPLO
MENT INSURANCE IN SIXTEEN YEAR PERIOD 1939-19!
Industry Group
State Total, All Industries
Agrieulture, Forestry and Fishing
Mining and Quarrying
Contract Construction
Manufacturing
Food Products
Tobacco Manufactures
Textile Mill Products
Apparel and Related Products
Lumber and Timber
Furniture Products
Paper and Allied Products
Printing and Publishing
Chemicals.
Leather Products
Stone and Clay Products
Metal Products
Electrical Machinery
Machinery, except electric
All Other Manufacturing
Transportation, Communication and Utilities
Wholesale and Retail Trade
Finance, Insurance and Real Estate .-
Service Industries
Establishment, not classified
1939
462,230
155
1,975
23.294
315. 0L4
11.664
24,762
199,098
6.566
22,195
22,839
4,770
3,413
7,920
1,224
4,028
2.557
62
1.950
1 . 976
16.331
74,782
10.020
20.452
197
ymertt
Actual
1954 Change
713 871 +251,641
1,112 957
3,749 1,774
40.387 17,093
429.436 114,412
21,723 10,059
29,498 4.736
227,235 28,137
18,942 12,376
30,587 8,392
32,946 10,107
10.301 5,531
6,629 3.216
11,230 3.310
973 — 251
6,091 2,063
6,597 4,040
14,216 14,154
7,061 5,111
5.407 3,431
40.122 23,791
138.923 61.141
21.657 1 1 . 037
38.068 17,616
417 220
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, Chan
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Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 83
Industry Joins ESC Personnel at Institute; Hodges Speaks
—Jul
The Fourth Annual Institute for
Employment Security Personnel,
leld September 29-October 1 at
hapel Hill, was the largest attend-ed
and probably above the average
high-type, thought-provoking
liscussions of the theme, "Econo-nic
Development of North Caro-ina."
The registration reached
540, not all attendants registering,
Employment Security Commission
'ESC) personnel reaching an esti-nated
180, against 120 at the first
wo years and 140 last year.
Governor Luther Hodges, first
governor to do so, addressed the In-stitute
Friday afternoon, showing
m intense interest in the work of
he ESC and the Institute and a definite passion for
ievelopment of the State, industrially and in all oth-r
respects. Ben E. Douglas, director, N. C. Dept. of
Conservation and Development (C&D), introduced
rim and discussed efforts to get new and good in-dustries
for the State. Capus M. Waynick outlined
his efforts to promote new small industries. Chair-man
Henry E. Kendall presided over the session.
Governor Hodges, in his address, took occasion to
speak in complimentary terms of 'The E.S.C. Quar-terly"
and the work of its editor, particularly refer-ring
to the last issue, in which Food Processing was
stressed. Food Processing, he indicated, is an activ-ity
which lends itself readily to exploitation and de-velopment
in the small industry class and is suitable
for almost any section of North Carolina.
C&D joined the three former sponsors this year,
N. C. Chapter, International Association of Person-nel
in Employment (IAPES) who inaugurated the
Institute, with President B. C. Wilson, Asheville,
and Howard W. Winstead, Greensboro, Institute
chairman, as key men; University of North Caro-lina
(UNC) Institute of Government, with Albert
Coates, director, welcoming the group and Don Hay-man,
assistant, handling the Institute, and ESC, with
Chairman Kendall as representative.
Thursday, 2 P.M., Howard Winstead, chairman;
Dr. C. S. Logsdon, marketing professor, UNC, an-swered
"What is Economic Development?" and Dr.
Lowell Ashby, UNC economics professor, discussed
"North Carolina's Income Standing."
At 3 :45, on "Schools and Colleges and Economic
Development," Bruce Billings, ESC attorney, chair-man;
importance of these activities was shown by
Dean Marcus E. Hobbs, Duke University, "College
Training and Economic Development" ; Dean J. H.
Lampe, State College, "College Research and Eco-nomic
Development" ; Director J. Warren Smith,
Vocational Education, "Vocational Training and
Economic Development" ; and Clarence L. Bedding-field,
N. C. director, "Apprenticeship Training and
Economic Development." At 8 :30, "A Trip to Sat-urn,"
Morehead Planetarium.
Friday, 9 o'clock, "Water, Taxes and Economic
Development," R. Fuller Martin, director, Unem-ployment
Insurance (UI) Division, chairman; "Wa-
WAKE FOREST COLLEGE—The new Wake Forest Colleye at Reynolda, near
Winston-Salem, from the architect's drawing. The college is located on a
320 acre tract, formerly a part of the Reynolda Estate, developed by the late
R. J. Reynolds and donated to the college by his daughter, Mary Reynolds
Babcock, and her husband, Charlie Babcock. All buildings in the present
plan, for which the construction budget is $19,500,000, are now nearing com-pletion
and expected to be finished when the college moves from its present
Wake Forest campus next May. The Wake Forest College Summer School
will open there in June. The campus and nearby area, in its beautiful nat-ural
surroundings, will be artistically landscaped.
Three general contractors are finishing the campus buildings, apartments
and utility buildings. They are George W. Kane, Roxboro-Durham, erecting
the Chapel, the Student and Administrative Center, the Library and the
Gymnasium; Fowler-Jones Construction Co., Winston-Salem, four Men's
Dormitories, the Science Building, the Law Building, 72 Faculty Apartments
and the Warehouse and Maintenance Shops; Frank L. Blum & Co., Winston-
Salem, the Power Plant and two Women's Dormitories. The firm of architects
developing the plans is Larson and Larson, which moved from New York
City to Reynolda when it took over supervision of the building of Wake
Forest College.—Data from Robert G. Deyton, Vice President and Controller.
ter Supply and Economic Development," Col. B. C.
Snow, chief engineer, Water Resources Division,
C&D ; "Stream Sanitation and Economic Develop-ment,"
E. C. Hubbard, executive secretary, N. C.
Stream Sanitation Commission ; "N. C. Tax Struc-ture
and Economic Development," Eugene Shaw, N.
C. Commissioner of Revenue; "Unemployment In-surance
and Economic Development," Dr. Frank T.
deVyver, economics professor, Duke University.
Friday, 11 A.M., "Promoting Economic Develop-ment,"
Carl M. Baber, Mount Airy manager, chair-man
; "Promotional Activities of The Department of
Conservation and Development," Cecil Bell, indus-trial
engineer, Commerce and Industry Division,
C&D ; "Promoting the Development of Small Indus-tries,"
Capus M. Waynick, director, Governor's
Small Industries Plan ; "Promotional Activities of
Chambers of Commerce and Industrial Committees,
George Colclough, Executive Secretary, Burlington
Chamber of Commerce.
Friday, 1:30, "Industry and the Economic Devel-opment
of N. C," Louis Berini, interviewer II, Dur-ham,
chairman; "Banking and Economic Develop-ment,"
Stanley W. Black, Jr., Sr. V-P, American
Trust Co., Charlotte; "Electric Power and Economic
Development," Dan Stewart, agricultural develop-ment
director, Carolina Power & Light Co. ; "Rail-roads
and Economic Development," Robert P. Court-ney,
assistant freight service manager, Southern
Railway, Raleigh ; "The Trucking Industry and Eco-nomic
Development," George Spaulding, sales pro-motion
manager, McLean Trucking Co., Winston-
Salem ; "Air Transportation and Economic Develop-
PAGE 84 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1955
ment," J. W. Goodwin, traffic
and sales manager, Eastern Air-lines,
Raleigh.
Friday, 3 :45, "The Experience
of Industry in North Carolina,"
Ben E. Douglas, director, C&D,
chairman; Thomas S. Tolar,
vice-president, Burlington In-dustries,
Greensboro, (for Presi-dent
Spencer Love) ; John 0.
DeVries, manager, General Elec-tric
plant, Asheboro, and Henry
Smyth, vice-president and mana-ger,
Saco-Lowell, Sanford. All
found North Carolina a fine, co-operative,
satisfactory state in
which to operate their industries
and to live. (At 5 P.M., Gover-nor
Hodges and others, as noted)
Can, 6:30, Louis Berini directing and 72 participa-ting
(eating).
Saturday, 9 A.M., "What Can the ESC Do to Fur-ther
the Economic Development of N. C," B. C. Wil-son,
Asheville, State president, IAPES, chairman;
"The Employment Service and Economic Develop-ment,"
J. W. Beach, director, Employment Service
(ES) Division; "Area Classification, Labor Supply
and Wage Studies," Hugh M. Raper, director, Re-search
and Statistics, ESC; "Industrial Service,"
Alden P. Honeycutt, supervisor, Industrial Services,
ESC ; "Economic Development and the Labor Sup-ply,"
Louis Levine, assistant director, Bureau of Em-ployment
Security, Washington, D. C, Mr. Levine,
only out-of-state speaker, brought interesting in-
-Barbecue in Tin Modern large Cabarrus County Hospital. Concord. J. N. Peast
& Co., architects-engineers, built by J. .4. Jones Construction Co
formation on the national and state labor markel
conditions.
Saturday, 11 A.M., "Summary of Institute," Don-,
aid Hayman, chairman ; a brief but effective sum-mary
of discussions in the sessions was brought a*
the final event by Dr. Paul Guthrie, chairman, Dept
of Economics, UNC.
The discussions were all of a very high order, al
showing extensive study and firm grasp of the subj
jects. Plans were for "The Voice" of the N. C. Chap]
ter, IAPES, to carry a more complete report of then
and The Institute. Don Hayman announced that cer
tificates would be mailed to those attending.
Highlights of Durham's Industry and Employment
By Elizabeth DeKay Johnson, State Labor Market Analyst, Bureau of Research and Statistics, ESC
This is the seventh of a series of articles discussing employment condi-tions
in leading North Carolina cities. Durham was selected for this
issue because it ranks high in the State's construction industry, though
better known in connection with other industries.
Durham, located in north central Piedmont, is
fourth largest city in the State and has long been
noted for tobacco manufacturing and its educational
and medical facilities. It forms one point of the
educational and potential research triangle where
within a maximum distance of 25 miles apart are
located nine colleges and universities with combined
enrollment of about 18,800. Its favorable location
for trade and industry is indicated by the fact that
within a 50 mile radius reside about 900,000 per-sons,
and that within that same radius are almost
1,100 manufacturing firms employing more than
110,000 workers.
According to the last census, the population of
Durham exceeded 71 thousand persons, the city hav-ing
experienced a growth of 18.5 percent during the
preceding decade. Durham county, sometimes re-ferred
to as the Standard Metropolitan Area of Dur-ham,
is the third most densely populated county of
the State. Its growth during the 1940-1950 period
was almost double that of the State, and within its
299 square miles lived over 101,000 persons. It is
estimated that the current population of the City of
Durham exceeds 77,000 and that of the county ha;
approximately 115 thousand—over two-thirds beinj
white. The State as a whole had a population growtl
of slightly less than 14 percent during the 1940-5(
period. With a rate of growth considerably abovi
that of the State, and with the labor market condi
tions remaining substantially unchanged, Durham':
potential labor supply will continue to exceed that o:
other areas with comparable nonagricultural em
ployment.
Durham, best known for tobacco manufacturing
educational institutions, and as a medical center i
also the home of large textile mills, one of the tw*
largest non-electrical machinery manufacturing'
firms of the State, four of the larger constructioi
companies, and is an important trade and distribuj
tion center.
Nonagricultural employment of wage and salaries
workers fluctuated seasonally between 35,800 an
38,500 in 1955. Discounting seasonal factors th
trend has been upward. Tobacco manufacturing ac:
counts for about half of the manufacturing employ!
ment, and two of the Nation's leading companies-
American Tobacco Company and Liggett and Myer
Tobacco Company—are located here. Two of th
State's nine largest colleges are in Durham. Duk|
University, the largest private white college of th
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 85
State, had a 1954-1955 enrollment of over 5,000 and,
NTorth Carolina College, the second largest college
:or Negroes in the State had an enrollment of some
L,400. Recognized as one of the medical centers of
;he Nation, five large hospitals are located in Dur-iam—
Duke, Watts, Lincoln, Spastic, and a Veteran's
Hospital. Duke, largest private general hospital in
Morth Carolina and second only to Johns Hopkins in
;he South, admitted almost 18,000 persons in 1954
md days care amounted to nearly 161,000.
Durham's twelve textile mills have on their pay-oils
over one-fourth of the persons engaged in man-ifacturing
(about 3,300), and non-electrical machin-ery
accounts for another five percent of manufactur-ng
employment.
Four large construction firms and many smaller
>nes operate in and from Durham. This industry
iccounts for almost ten percent of the wage earners.
The year 1955 saw a real boom in construction and
dollar value of building permits January to August
ilmost doubled those of the preceding year. Accord-ing
to the North Carolina Department of Labor the
7alue of building permits for the first eight months
bf 1955 was $8,300,000. This was exceeded only by
Charlotte and Raleigh. Employment in this impor-tant
industry averaged about 3,000 persons.
Durham's importance as a trade center is borne
out by dollar value of retail sales and employment in
;hat industry. According to figures made available
oy the North Carolina Department of Revenue, total
ounty retail sales for 1954-55 amounted to $101,-
331,000. "Sales Management" attributed $98,230,-
300 to the city of Durham. The "Blue Book of
Southern Progress" 1955, lists total trade as $183,-
300,000 ; and total business volume as $646,000,000
for the year 1954. Trade employment accounts for
about 20 percent of total wage earners and fluctu-ates,
according to the season, from slightly less than
7,300 to about 7,700.
Two large insurance companies had their origin
in Durham and currently their combined employ-ment
approximates 500. All told, some 140 firms
engaged in finance, insurance and real estate employ
over 2,000 persons in the County. Service, including
(schools and hospitals as well as firms furnishing
business, personal, repair, recreational, medical,
health and other services give gainful employment
o over 8,800 persons. Transportation, communica-tion
and other public utilities hire about 1,600 ; and,
regular government establish-ments,
including public adminis-tration,
account for 1,500.
Durham is a city of a few
large and many small employing
units. Non-manufacturing units,
excluding educational and medi-al,
number about 1,600 and have
an average employment of nine
and a fraction persons. Trade
accounts for 45 percent of these
units and a slightly larger per-centage
of the employment.
Though the average size of these
firms is nine persons, there are
twelve which employ more than
50 and nine which employ over
100. The 130 manufacturing
firms, hiring in excess of 14,000
N. C. State Highway Building, lacing State Capitol. Outside
walls of Ml. Airy granite, costing $1,140,000, erected by Thomp-son
d Street Co., Charlotte, Allen J. Maxwell, architect, L. E.
Wooten & Co., engineers.
persons in peak season, have a high average employ-ment
due primarily to the fact that seven of these
employ over 500 persons, there are fourteen others
which normally offer employment to well over 100
persons. Chief products include cigarettes and smok-ing
tobacco ; cotton cloth such as sheeting, denim and
gabardine ; print cloth and cloth bags ; full fashioned
and seamless hosiery and socks ; packaging and pre-cision
instruments and machines ; headache and
other pain remedies ; and corrugated shipping con-tainers.
With its rail, plane, and bus transportation; its
proximity to a vast buying population and extensive
and diversified industrial areas; its institutions of
higher learning graduating hundreds of well equip-ped
technical and professional people ; and its more
than ample actual and potential labor supply, Dur-ham
has much to offer existing or prospective in-dustries.
Nearly completed tobacco plant of P. Lorillard, Greensboro, on
80-acre site, covering 12y2 acres of one-story space. Overall
cost around $10,000,000, H. L. Coble Construction Co., Greens-boro,
general contractor.
PAGE 86 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall,
MOST OF N. C. LARGE CONTRACTORS
IN ISSUE; WE TRIED TO GET MORE
About 50 of the larger general contractors and
almost as many special trades contractors (sub-con-tractors)
were selected, with the help of officials
interested in the various organizations of these
groups, for special articles to be included in this
issue. Generally, selection was made on the basis
of average employment of the firms in these classifi-cations.
This, it is recognized, is not an entirely
accurate criteria. It is also recognized that some
firms which should have been included have been
left out.
An effort was made to get articles on as many of
the larger firms as possible, to show their size and
importance in the building industry. Time and dis-tance
prevented visits to all of these. Some firms had
to be contacted by correspondence, and several of
these are included. A very few heads of the firms
contacted did not care to have their firms represent-ed.
Others were very cooperative, but failed to fol-low
through, in specified time ; specifically, by not
returning prepared articles with their approval by
publication deadline.
Because compilers of this publication feel that
omission of some of the firms would cause criticism,
it seems necessary to list those given an opportunity,
even urged, to come in, but who failed to respond,
usually by neglecting to return prepared articles in
time. These are:
GENERAL CONTRACTORS
P. S. West Contraction Co., Statesville
Herman-Sipe & Co., Conover
R. K. Stewart & Son, High Point
L. S. Bradshaw & Sons, Salisbury
Wagoner Construction Co., Salisbury
E. R. Morgan, Gastonia (not contacted personally)
D. J. Rose & Son, Rocky Mount
Jones Bros. <& Company, Wilson
Edison Foard, Charlotte (officials not contacted personally]
Southern Builders, Fayettevllle (officials not contacted personally)
ARCHITECTS—ENGINEERS
B. 0. Vannort Engineers, Charlotte
SPECIAL TRADES (Sub) CONTRACTORS
Crawford, Foushee, Citrini, Durham (officials not contacted personally)
Arnold Erection Co., Greensboro
Shaw Paint & Wallpaper Co., Durham (higher officials not contacted per«
sonally)
Guaranteed Waterproofing Co., Greensboro (higher officials not contacted per-sonally)
Acoustical Engineering Co., Charlotte
David G. Allen, Raleigh
HEALTHY 16-YEAR INDUSTRY DIVERSION
(Continued from Page 82)
significant advances. In numerical terms these in-dustries
are as follows : electrical products (14,150) ;
apparel (12,400) ; furniture products (10,100) ; and,
food products (10,050) . In terms of relative growth
rates the industries are : electrical products (expand-ed
23 times) ; machinery, except electrical, almost
trebled ; paper and paper products, more than dou-
R. J. Reynolds Research Laboratory, Winston-Salem,
erected by J. A. Jones.
bled ; metal products, more than doubled ; and, mis
cellaneous manufactures almost trebled.
These rapid growth industries point sharply to <
growing diversity in our manufacturing economy
and the dominance of high growth rates for electrica
products, non-electrical machinery, metal products
paper and paper products suggest the utilization o
an increasing number of workers in industries hav
ing wage patterns higher than are found in the dom
inant textile, tobacco and lumber products industries
This examination of North Carolina's changing
economy would not be complete without special nof
being taken of the rapid development in non-manu
facturing establishments which give needed balanc
to the employment structure. Notable is the growtl
of firms engaged in the transportation, communica
tion and utility field. Employment rose from 16,35<
in 1939 to 40,100 in 1954, a gain of almost 150 per
cent. The finance and insurance group more thai
doubled its employment (116 percent rise) and th
wholesale and retail trade and service trades hat
employment gains of more than 85 percent employ
mentwise. This varied growth serves to strengths
the whole North Carolina economy.
The approach to this consideration of North Care
lina's employment pattern has not attempted to alio
cate growth in terms of the yearly progressions bu
one might well allocate the major developments t
the postwar period and then the real measure o
North Carolina growth and its growth potential i
more striking. Too, it would be rather meaningles
to project the future employment level, say 16 year
forward, to 1970, and envision a repetition of thi
period's advance to yield more than one million in
sured workers. Instead, we would suggest that ou
advance is and will continue to gain momentur
which will make past growth a poor measure fo
North Carolina's future.
General Electric's Outdoor Lighting plant. Hendersonville. cos
ing $.*! to $5 million, erected by H. 'L. Coble Construction G<
3UMMER-FALL, 1 955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 87
Building Contractors Big Contributors to State Growth
General contractors in Building Construction have
experienced their busiest period in the year 1955.
While final figures are not available yet, it is esti-nated
that approximately $325,000,000 have been
expended in the construction of industrial, commer-ial,
institutional, governmental and residential
structures during the year. Indications are that
1955 established an all-time record in the construc-
;ion of these types of buildings.
Heavier construction, such as highways, bridges,
railroads, hydro-electric projects, is not handled in
;his issue, but in this lighter construction records of
;he Employment Security Commission show 681 gen-eral
contractors covered by the Employment Security
Law in the first six months of 1955. In that period
;he average monthly employment was 18,913, a num-ber
which should reach or exceed 20,000 when the
/ear's figures are available. Wages of these workers
ire expected to reach $55,000,000 for the 1955 year.
Articles on operations of several of the larger and
nore important general building contractors in the
State are given on the pages that follow.
J. A. JONES CONSTRUCTION CO.
Charlotte, N. C.
Sy John Marshall, Public Relations, J. A. Jones Const. Co.
A sign that has been a familiar sight in North
arolina for more than 60 years, may be found today
:hroughout the world—literally in the four corners
)f the globe.
At industrial plants, dam sites, super-highways,
drstrips, office buildings, shipyards, hospitals,
nunicipal and institutional buildings and other con-struction
projects, this sign has become the symbol
bf home for wandering Tar Heels—and a symbol of
lar Heel enterprise, vision and ability.
It reads: "J. A. Jones Construction Company,
Charlotte, N. C".
The sign has dotted the State, the nation and the
world at such places as Oak Ridge AEC Plant, Pan
American Highway, Fifth of November Dam in El
Salvador; post war installations on Okinawa; John
H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir ; Morehead Planetarium
in Chapel Hill; General Electric plants in Hickory,
N". C. ; Waynesboro, Va. and Owensboro, Ky.,Neuse
River Plant of Burlington Mills ; Derbendi Khan
Dam, near Baghdad, Iraq; Chesterfield Cigarette
factory, Durham; Hanford AEC plant in Richland,
Wash. ; Palisades Dam and Powerhouse in Idaho
;
Bucay-Palmira Pipeline in Ecuador; Memorial Hos-pital
in Chapel Hill ; Ernest Harmon Air Force Base
in Newfoundland; Pine Tree Warning System in
Canada ; Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky and numerous
other well known projects.
The J. A. Jones Construction
Co., one of the nation's leading
and most versatile construction
firms, was founded in 1894 in
Charlotte by the late James Ad-dison
Jones. The company,
which today operates on a world-wide
scale, maintains its execu-tive
offices in Charlotte and has
branch offices located in Atlanta,
CAROLINA BRANCH, AGC, LARGEST
MOST EFFECTIVE IN THIS COUNTRY
By Robert Patten, Managing Director, Carolinas Branch,
Associated General Contractors of America, Inc.
Carolinas Branch, The Associated General Contractors of
America, Inc., organized in 1920 and incorporated in 1922, is
the largest—and is considered by most authorities to be the
most effective—of the 124 Chapters and Branches comprising
the National AGC, the only accepted trade association covering
the General Construction Industry.
The business and objects of Carolinas Branch AGC, are to
promote better relations between private owners or public
bodies, their architects or engineers, and the General Con-tractor;
to maintain high professional standards in the conduct
of work; to combat unfair practices; to encourage efficiency;
to correct conditions of an unsatisfactory character; to encour-age
those methods of contracting which relieve the contractor
of improper risks; to promote sound business practices, serve
to uphold the standing of contractors, and the construction
industry in general, throughout the business world.
Special aims of Carolinas Branch include making member-ship
in the Branch a reasonable assurance to the public of the
skill, responsibility and integrity of its members; providing
methods and means whereby members may avail themselves
of the greater power of combined effort through the Associa-tion,
acting an an authoritative body, in obtaining just and
honorable dealings with the public; and securing uniformity
of action among the individuals and firms forming the Asso-ciation
upon such lines of action as may be decided from time
to time as being best for the Association and for the good of
the Construction Industry as a whole.
The executive offices and plan room of Carolinas Branch are
located in Charlotte. Service offices and plan rooms are located
in Raleigh and Greensboro, North Carolina and in Columbia
and Greenville, South Carolina. The vast majority of the con-tract
construction performed in the two Carolinas is done by
the 363 regular or contractor members of Carolinas Branch,
AGC, and most of the auxiliary services connected with such
construction is performed by the 914 associate members of the
Branch.
It is interesting to note that the calendar year 1955 will see
approximately $325,000,000 worth of building construction
erected in the State of North Carolina alone. Public Works
construction including highways will jump the North Carolina
construction total by more than $100,000,000 additional for the
year 1955. Truly, the Carolinas progress through construc-tion.
The current president of Carolinas Branch, AGC, is Frank
P. Morris of Morris Construction Company, Greenville, South
Carolina and the Vice President is F. J. (Jack) Blythe of
Blythe Bros. Company, Charlotte, North Carolina. Roy L.
Goode of Goode Construction Corporation, Charlotte, North
Carolina is treasurer. The Managing Director of the Associa-tion
is Robert Patten of Charlotte, who heads a staff of 17
persons handling the affairs ol the Association in the Carolinas.
Shreveport, Seattle, New York, Nashville, Tenn., El
Salvador, Ecuador, Baghdad, Iraq and Newfound-land.
From an humble beginning just before the turn
New General Electric Distribution Transformer Plant at Hick-ory,
erected by J. A. Jones Construction Co., Charlotte.
PAGE 88 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1955
of the century, the J. A. Jones Construction Co.
grew up with North Carolina and the South, and has
had a major role in shaping of its present skyline.
However, it has not limited its activities to this area,
but has attained a world-wide reputation through its
operations and achievements on a wide variety of
construction projects throughout the world.
The rise and growth of the J. A. Jones Construc-tion
Co. from its humble beginning to one of the top
10 leaders in the construction industry over a span
of 61 years is an outstanding example of the op-portunities
afforded industries in North Carolina
and the South, as well as the vision, ability and
courage of its people.
James Addison Jones set out on foot from his
farm home near Lexington, in 1888. Several days
later, penniless and foot-weary, he gained employ-ment
in Charlotte as a bricklayer's helper at 25 cents
a day. This proved to be his foothold and his spring-board.
He worked hard and learned fast. Soon he became
a full-fledged brickmason. Then a superintendent.
In 1894—six years after his arrival—he organized
the J. A. Jones Construction Co. At first he tackled
only one job at a time and the size was limited. In
a few years the scope of work and the size of the jobs
increased. Jim Jones was on his way and his com-pany
grew.
In 1912, Mr. Jones' eldest son, Edwin, graduated
from college and came into the business. Three
years later, Raymond, with technical college train-ing,
joined the firm. And with those two important
associations, the pattern of growth of the J. A. Jones
Construction Co. was set.
Edwin—who had begun helping his father in the
company office at the age of twelve—turned his time
and talents to the administrative side of the busi-ness.
And Raymond—with his engineering bent
and training—went into the field to work with the
company's construction crews, bringing to that
phase of the business the all-important personal
touch from "the home office".
It was a pattern in which responsible and pro-gressive
management, the most efficient in working
methods, the latest in technical knowledge were the
fixed and unvarying points of reference. And that
pattern, through the years, fashioned for the J. A.
tff tit m i
* mmmHl^^mm
The Charlotte Observer Building and additions, Charlotte,
erected by J. A. Jones.
Liggett & Myers Cigarette Factory, Durham, built by J. M
Jones. Plumbing, heating, air conditioning by
Kowe-Goodin-J ones , Durham.
Jones Construction Co. first a South-wide, then
world-wide reputation.
When the first flames of World War II began tell
flicker on the horizon, the Jones firm was ready. It
had the management, the men, the machinery and
the knowledge—and the country was not long in call-ing.
The Jones company responded with accomplish-ments
of a magnitude its founder and his co-work-!
ers would not have dreamed were possible a few short
years before.
It labored mightily fashioning the industrial
sinews of war—shipyards, ships, munitions plants
airfields, entire Army posts.
Towering above all other of the Jones company'^
wartime achievements was the construction of tha
giant gaseous diffusion plant, plus a variety of othei
facilities, at the fabulous Oak Ridge Atomic Proj-ect.
History records this project as one of thel
truly great feats of the construction industry irj
modern times.
There was no post-war hysteria in the Jones firm]
after the peace in 1945. While many retrenched anc
saw signs of foreboding doom, J. A. Jones visionecj
another picture. Boldness and foresight, plus arj
abiding faith in a region and a nation, had character]
ized the company's early growth and development
There was no need to lose faith at this time.
The next step was inevitable in the Jones' develop!
I
ment of a far-sighted philosophy. The company!
was geared to keep pace with the ever-growing
needs of the post-war era. This meant brand
offices in key locations better to serve clients and tc
handle a growing problem of logistics. It mean!
keeping a hand on the pulse of this growing man]
power pool.
The mind of the nation turned to peace and so die
J. A. Jones. Instead of Army camps and Libert}
ships, there were other needs to be filled. High
ways, hospitals, schools, chemical processing plants
industrial plants, ordnance depots, hydroelectric
dams and every other phase of construction wa;
undertaken.
The Jones' faith in the future paid dividends. The) I
"bust" turned out to be a "boom" and the Jones com I
pany was prepared. Soon Jones had numerous
hospitals under way at the same time, educationa I
institutions were calling on Jones to help ease theii
SUMMER-FALL, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 89
)ost-war growing pains when the GI Bill of Rights
mloaded thousands of new students on their cam-
Duses, and post-war housing developments in
Atlanta, Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh. Charleston,
Sashville and New Orleans were called for.
By now the nation's leading industrial firms were
xpanding for peacetime economy—and many of the
)iggest names in American industry looked to the
Tones company when they expanded their facilities.
<\.mong them were Western Electric, Liggett and
VTyers Tobacco Co., J. C. Penney, American Cyana-nid,
R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Co., P.H.Hanes Knitting
Do., Burlington Mills, General Motors, Allis-Chal-ners,
Champion Fibre & Paper Co., General Electric,
J. S. Rubber, S. H. Kress, Duplan, Oerlikan, Sears
Roebuck, Westinghouse, A & P, Colonial Stores, and
nany other names synonymous with the finest of
Droducts and services.
Jones also remained active in national defense
vork. It continues to work in the field of atomic
mergy. After being in from the very beginning at
3ak Ridge, the Jones firm moved westward to Han-
'ord where it is still working. Other defense jobs
include permanent military installations, airfields
md arsenals.
Jones has never reached a construction plateau.
The work has moved into the specialized fields and
;his step has resulted in increased foreign operations.
In North Carolina there are many outstanding
examples of Jones activity and craftsmanship. In-cluded
among these hundreds of projects are the
VTorehead Planetarium, the North Carolina Memorial
hospital and Medical School, the Nurses School, the
School of Commerce, Woolen Gymnasium, all at
Chapel Hill ; the Chesterfield Factory and Liggett &
Myers Research Laboratory, Durham ; the Neuse
Oliver Plant, Burlington Mills ; Administration, Class-ooms
and Physics Buildings, Duke University; 14
buildings on the campus of the Woman's College;
hemistry and Textile Buildings at North Carolina
State ; Cone Memorial Hospital, Greensboro ; Sears
iloebuck Mail Order Warehouse, Greensboro ; the
Charlotte and Selwyn Hotels ; Doctors Building, the
Charlotte Municipal Airport Terminal Building,
VIecklenburg County Court House, Duke Power Co.
)ffice building; Charlotte Observer Building, Myers
3ark High School and hundreds of other industrial
)lants, hospitals, churches, retail stores and munici-pal
buildings.
Looking across the nation, the Jones projects in-clude
the Fortier Plant for American Cyanamid Co.,
^ock on the Mississippi River at Keokuk, Iowa ; Old
Tickory Lock and Dam near Nashville, Tenn. ; Mc-tfary,
Clark Hill, Palisades, Pine Flat, John H. Kerr,
Wolf Creek, Gavins Point and Green Lane Dams.
Industrial, commercial and professional buildings
icross the nation include the Mississippi Products
^o., Jackson, Miss. ; Springs Cotton Mills, Lancaster,
5. C. ; the Federal Reserve Bank Building, Richmond
;
^rhlanger Hospital, Chattanooga; Veterans Hos-
)ital, Lexington, Ky. ; three buildings on the VPI
campus ; the Davidson County Courthouse, Nash-ville,
Tenn. ; the Greenville County Courthouse,
jreenville, S. C, the Hotel Roanoke in Virginia;
Skyland Hotel, Hendersonville.
In all the Jones Construction Co. has handled more
han two billion dollars worth of construction work
since it was organized and is currently contracting
for an amount in excess of $100,000,000 yearly.
This year it worked in 22 states and eight foreign
countries, including Alaska, Canada, British West
Indies, Honduras, Ecuador, Iraq and Spain. During
the construction season there were in excess of 6,000
men on the payroll, a far cry from the 25,000 carried
during peak wartime operations but a major force in
peacetime.
Edwin L. Jones, Sr., succeeded his father as presi-dent
of the Jones firm and continues to direct its
activities. He is the lone survivor of the original
father-and-son teams which guided the destiny of the
firm in its early years. J. A. Jones, founder, died in
1950. His other son, Raymond, died the same year.
In addition to his many duties with the company,
which take him to all parts of the world, Edwin L.
Jones is also active in the Methodist Church, in which
he is a leading layman. He is a member of the
Board of Directors of the Wachovia Bank and Trust
Co., Duke University, Brevard College, and many
other organizations throughout the State and South.
McDEVITT & STREET CO.
(THOMPSON & STREET CO.)
Charlotte, N. C.
McDevitt & Street Co., 505 Builders Building,
Charlotte, general contractor, had its beginning as a
partnership in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1918 and the
predecessor firm moved to Charlotte, where the prin-cipal
office was established in 1923. This move was
made to be on the spot in building the Ivey Depart-ment
Store and also the Ford Assembly Plant in
Charlotte. In the 32 years of operations in North
Carolina, the firm has developed an average annual
volume of $10,000,000, in addition to the present
volume of $25,000,000 in joint venture with F. N.
Thompson, Inc., as Thompson & Street Co.
In the earlier days of the firm, starting as Mc-
Devitt-Fleming Co., a partnership in Chattanooga
in 1918, J. J. McDevitt started the J. J. McDevitt Co.
in Florida in 1925. C. P. Street, who had joined him
in the firm in 1922, became an officer in this new
firm at its original organization. The firm was re-organized
as McDevitt & Street Co. in 1941. At that
time Mr. McDevitt sold his interest in the firm and
retired to Myrtle Beach, S. C, where he lived until
Mecklenburg County Court House, McDevitt <f- Street, builder.
PAGE 90 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-Fall, 1955
Sanctuary, Covenant Presbyterian Church,
Charlotte, built by McDevitt & Street
Co., Charlotte.
death in Oc-tober,
1955.
Mrs. Elma S.
McDevitt, his
wife, retain-ed
her inter-est
and still is
president of
the firm.
In addition
to Mrs. Mc-
Devitt, pres-ent
officers
are C . P .
Street, secre-tary
and gen-eral
manager
;
Craig Gaskell,
vice president
and assistant
general man-ager
; George
L. Sibley, R.
C. Paterson,
C. C. McGin-nis,
J. L. Pad-gett,
vice pres-idents;
and J. E. Sebrell, treasurer Mr. Street is
majority stockholder in the firm.
McDevitt & Street Co. operates in several south-eastern
states, largely in North Carolina, but also
extensively in Georgia, where a branch office is
maintained in Atlanta for handling business in Geor-gia
and surrounding states. The firm employs norm-ally
about 1,000 workers, but this number is increas-ing
extensively because of several new contracts.
The average annual payroll for construction workers
in North Carolina only ranges around $385,000, an
amount which is also expanding because of additional
workers on new contracts.
In the joint ventures of McDevitt & Street Co. and
F. N. Thompson, Inc., operating as Thompson &
Street Co., the present volume of work is around
$25,000,000. Among the important buildings han-dled
by the joint venture, in addition to the Char-lotte
Auditorium-Coliseum, costing $4,500,000, are
the Gymnasium at Chapel Hill ; the Belk Dormitory
at Davidson College, Veterans Hospitals at Durham
and Clarksburg, W. Va. ; the Ford Assembly Plant,
Atlanta ; the Hudson Pulp and Paper Plant, Palatka,
Fla. ; Hamilton County Memorial Hospital, Chatta-nooga,
Tenn. ; dormitories at Chapel Hill, $1,107,000 ;
State Highway Office Building, Raleigh, $1,140,000;
Administration Building at State Hospital, Raleigh,
$1,600,000; Library at State College, Raleigh, $1,-
600,000; Baptist Hospital addition, Winston-Salem,
$1,450,000.
Some of the important buildings erected in North
Carolina in past years by McDevitt & Street Co. are
Southern Railway Office Building, $185,000; Meck-lenburg
County Court House, $963,000; Masonic
Temple, $95,000; Memorial Hospital, $1,250,000;
S. H. Kress Store Building, $430,000; Mercy Hos-pital
addition, $1,150,000; Sharon Mausoleum, $150,-
000; W. T. Grant Store Building, $494,000; Coven-ant
Presbyterian Church, $1,450,000; Singer Sewing
Machine Building $253,000 ; and Lance, Inc., original
building and additions $1,500,000; all in Charlotte.
Buildings elsewhere include Grace Hospital, Mor-ganton,
$150,000 ; Drexel Furniture Building,
Drexel, $90,000; factory buildings for Kistler In-terests,
Morganton, $620,000 ; Kerr Bleachery build-ings,
Concord, $60,000 ; school building, Kannapolis,
$104,000 ; school buildings Mecklenburg County,
$214,000; school buildings, Wake County, $100,000;
State Office Building and Department of Justice
Building, Raleigh, $1,109,000; housing project,
Fayetteville, $290,000; housing project, Gastonia,
$140,000; dormitory, State College, Raleigh, $412,-
000; Stanly County School, $300,000; Memorial LIos-pital,
Lenoir, $609,000.
C. P. Street, principal owner and general managei
of the company, is a native of Cadiz, Ky., and a grad-uate
of Vanderbilt University with a B. A. degree.
He started to work for Mr. McDevitt in 1922 as a|
timekeeper, becoming secretary of the firm in 192E
and general manager in 1936. He and F. N. Thomp-son
formed the joint venture firm of Thompson &\
Street Co., which has erected so many important!
buildings in this and other states. Mr. Street has
been treasurer, vice president, and president of the
Carolinas Branch of the Associated General Con]
tractors of America and was president of this Na-tional
Association in 1953. He is a member of the
Consulting Contractors of America, a trustee anc
executive committee member of Queens College, i
trustee of the Alexander Home since 1939, a mem
ber of the board of directors of Vanderbilt Alumn
Association, and of Vanderbilt University, a deacoi
of the First Presbyterian Church, and is active ii
other special and civic affairs.
F. N. THOMPSON, INC.
(THOMPSON & STREET CO.)
Charlotte, N. C.
F. N. Thompson, Inc., Pineville Road, Charlotte
general contractor, was organized in 1934 by F. N
Thompson as individual owner and was incorporate!
in 1948. This firm has been so successful that it ha,;
developed construction business to the extent tha
its average annual contracts range between $3,000,
000 and $4,000,000. In addition, in joint venture
with McDevitt & Street, under the name of Thomp
son & Street, annual average contracts have amount
ed to around $20,000,000 in recent years.
Mr. Thompson worked for the Noll Construction
Co., operated for many years by his father, Samuel
W. Thompson. Growing up in this firm, F. N
Thompson learned construction operations, and i:j
1934 established his own firm. Officers of the no"v|
incorporated firm are F. N. Thompson, president
A. J. Fox, vice president; P. J. Potts, vice presides
and treasurer ; C. O. Mikell, vice president and est;
mator; J. L. Zaccagni, vice president and estimatorj
and Miss Thelma Heinlein, secretary.
F. N. Thompson, Inc., operates in several south
eastern states and employs an average of around 50
workers with an annual payroll averaging in th!
neighborhood of $550,000. In the joint venture
operated as Thompson & Street, operations are cai
ried on in eight or ten southeastern states. Annuij
payrolls range above $2,500,000 and at times a|
many as 2500 workers are employed.
At present F. N. Thompson is building the add
tion to Duke Hospital, Durham, a $2,000,000 job ; i
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 91
Il|.lil f|
""ist
Veterans Hospital, Durham, erected by Thompson 46 Street
Co., Charlotte
erecting the Main Street Methodist Church in Gas-tonia,
costing around $500,000; and is building a
(
meat plant for Colonial Stores in Raleigh.
Formerly the firm completed the First Methodist
Church, Lexington, $500,000; the Myrtle Apart-ments,
Charlotte; the Science Building, the Library,
dormitories and other buildings for Davidson Col-lege;
a dormitory at Mary Baldwin Seminary,
Staunton, Va., and many school buildings in North
Carolina.
The Thompson & Street joint venture recently
completed the remarkable Auditorium-Coliseum in
Charlotte, one of three of the only buildings of this
type in the world, the other two in Boston and Ger-many
; the Gymnasium and the Belk Dormitory, Da-vidson
College ; Veterans Hospitals at Durham, Bir-mingham,
Ala., and Clarksburg, W. Va. ; Ford As-sembly
Plant in Atlanta ; Hudson Pulp and Paper
Co., Palatka, Fla. ; a hospital at Chattanooga, Tenn.,
and others.
Mr. Thompson is a native of Chattanooga, Tenn.,
a graduate of the McCallie School (boys), Chatta-nooga,
and of Davidson College. During World War
I he served in the U. S. Navy as Machinist 1/C. He
is a past president of the Carolinas Branch of AGC,
a former member and chairman of the N. C. Licens-ing
Board for Contractors, and formerly on the
Charlotte Zoning Committee. Mr. Thompson is a
member of the Army Advisory Board on Aviation.
He is a member of the Charlotte City Club, the Char-lotte
Country Club, a Mason, and a Shriner.
SOUTHEASTERN CONSTRUCTION CO.
Charlotte, N. C.
Southeastern Construction Co., with headquarters
at 301 W. Second St., Charlotte, is one of the impor-tant
construction organizations of the southeast, en-gaging
in every type of building construction over an
area of sixteen states.
In 34 years the firm has grown
from a one man organization to
one of the largest of its kind,
engaged in industrial, commer-cial
and institutional construc-tion.
Organized in 1921 by Earle
Whitton, the company now keeps
between 20 and 25 projects un-der
way at all times.
Volume of work in recent
years has run about $20,000,000
annually. Work is now under
way on more than $25,000,000
worth of buildings. Of this,
about a quarter has been in the
Carolinas ; the remainder is scat-tered
in a dozen or more states.
Payrolls in the Carolinas have
approximated $600,000 annual-ly
for a number of years.
Because of the sound reputa-tion
of Southeastern, approxi-mately
a third of its work is ob-tained
without any competition.
Many customers of the company
have had two, three and more
jobs built by Southeastern, and
for one architect more than 50 jobs have been
completed. Mr. Whitton is particularly proud of the
repeat business the company does.
In personnel, this company has some of the best
builders in the territory in its group. There are
many men who have been with the company more
than five years ; ten employees with more than 20
years service ; five with more than ten years, and
20 with more than five years.
Over the years Southeastern has erected buildings
for many nationally known firms and literally dozens
of firms well known in this region. Currently South-eastern
men are erecting buildings for Kaiser Alu-minum
Co., General Electric Co., Armstrong Tire &
Rubber Co., Tungsten Mining Co., and Pure Oil Co.,
along with those for 20 regionally known companies.
Probably 25 per cent of the company's business is
done in North Carolina, the rest being distributed
over the other southeastern states. The company is
licensed in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Mary-land,
Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas.
Branch offices are maintained at Atlanta, Jackson,
Miss. ; San Antonio, and Charleston and Morgan-town,
W. Va. Each of these offices is fully staffed
and supervises work in its territory.
This active organization is a North Carolina cor-poration
with Earle Whitton as president and treas-urer.
T. M. Sewell and Mr. Whitton's three sons,
Beaumert, John W., and Edward L. Whitton, are
vice-presidents.
Among the important buildings the company has
under way or has recently completed are the General
Electric Plant at Columbia, S. C., the Lithium Corpo-ration
of America installation, Bessemer City, N. C.
A $6,000,000 office building for the United Fuel Gas
Co. at Charleston, W. Va. ; parts of the Kaiser Alu-minum
plant at Ravenswood, W. Va., totaling about
$3,000,000; the Jefferson Standard Union National
Bank building at Charlotte; WBT's new radio and
PAGE 92 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1951
TV studio at Charlotte ; and the
Duke Power Co. warehouse at
Charlotte.
Many of the finest buildings in
Charlotte are Southeastern-built.
Included among these are the
Presbyterian Hospital original
building; the original Federal
Reserve building ; Mellons Store
;
the Cutter office building; five
buildings for Edgcomb Steel Co. ; the U. S. Rubber
office and warehouse; the new Trailmobile build-ing
; and the 400 unit Southside Homes.
Beyond the limits of its home city Southeastern
has erected many major commercial, industrial and
institutional buildings. In Greensboro the Carolina
Paint & Varnish plant is one of its jobs. At State
College the firm erected the Zoology building and the
Agronomy building. The new Cone Mills plant at
Pineville is a Southeastern job, and the large post-war
renovation program of Burlington Mills in the
Fayetteville-Red Springs area was done by this com-pany.
In other states some of the larger work completed
by the firm includes the Appalachian Power building
at Roanoke, Virginia ; St. Joseph's Church in North
Augusta, S. C. ; several buildings at The Citadel in
Charleston, S. C. ; the Trailways Bus station in At-lanta;
the T. B. Hospital in Gadsden, Ala. In Jack-son,
Miss. Southeastern now has the 14 story First
Jefferson Standard-Union National Bank Building, Charlotte.
nine floors, containing 180,000 sq. ft., built by
Southeastern Construction Co.
ffll
The Lithicum Corp. Bessemer City plant, costing $5,000,001
built and all industrial equipment installed by Southeaster,
Construction Co.. Charlotte.
National Bank under way. St. Mary's Hospital a
Monroe is probably the largest structure built ii
Louisiana by Southeastern. In Texas the firm is no\
erecting a public school in San Antonio.
The offices at Charleston and Morgantown, W. Va
are directing work on the United Fuel Gas and th
Kaiser jobs as well as four others now under way.
Southeastern is particularly proud of its record h
safety on construction jobs. The firm has partici
pated in accident prevention contests sponsored b]
the Associated General Contractors for many year
and for one five year period has the second best re
cord for all firms of its size range in the entiri
United States.
As the years have passed this company has or
ganized a corps of construction experts, ready an<
able to tackle any type building construction in th
area in which it operates. The success of this oper
ation is attested by the number of satisfied customer
who have come again and again to have their worl
done by Southeastern and by the large number o
jobs that are awarded the company through negoti
ation and without competion.
"Changing the Skyline of Dixie" was used as
slogan in advertising at one time by Southeastern
and while the slogan is no longer used, Southeaster]
continues "Changing the Skyline" in the Southeast
era area.
C. M. GUEST & SONS
Greensboro, N. C.
C. M. Guest & Sons, Jefferson Building, Greensbor
and Anderson, S. C, was organized in 1893 in Ander
son, S. C, by Clingman M. Guest, a carpenter engag
ed in building homes. In its more than 62 years o
operations, this firm has extended its operations in|
numbers of Southeastern States and expanded it
services to include "construction management
which includes service from site selection to com
pleted facilities.
Mr. Guest started with small homes, soon movei
into construction of some of the larger and fine
homes in Anderson. It was not long before he hai
moved on into commerical and industrial constructs
including the erection of important textile plants. I:
1919 his son, Walter C. Guest, joined his father i:j
full-time work after some years of part-time assist
ance as a youth and in vacation periods while in col
lege. After similar experience, another son, Rome
H. Guest, became a full-time worker in 1929 afte
graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology.
In 1937, while Walter C. Guest continued opera]
tions in Anderson over several states to the Sout'i
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 93
and West, Romeo H.
Guest opened an office in
Greensboro to handle in-dustrial
construction in
North Carolina, Virgin-ia,
and other states to the
North and West.
In the 60 years, C. M.
Guest & Sons has handled
more than 1,000 projects in several states, and an-nual
volume of business has exceeded $10,000,000 in
recent years. Probably 75% of this business is han-dled
in North Carolina. About 80 percent of the
firm's business is in North Carolina and Virginia, the
balance in half a dozen other Southeastern States.
Also close to 75 per cent of the business handled by
the Guest firm is in negotiated contracts. Much of
it is for corporations for which the firm has handled
prior contracts. Employment on the average ranges
jaround 1000 workers, a figure which at times is in-creased
to 5,000 workers in periods of large or nu-merous
contracts. Around 60 per cent of the employ-ment
and payroll are in North Carolina.
In the North Carolina operations, Romeo H. Guest
has performed yeoman service in attracting impor-tant
industries to this State. He has worked hand in
hand with the State Department of Conservation and
Development in attracting industries to North Caro-lina
and with the Employment Security Commission
in determining locations of suitable and sufficient la-bor
for the industries involved. Notable among these
are several of the State's new Electronic plants in-cluding
the International Resistance Co. plants at
Asheville and Boone, the Sprague Electric Co. plant
in Ashe County, (pictures of which appeared in Vol-ume
12, Number 1-2, Winter-Spring, 1954, of the
E. S. C. Quarterly), Hammerlund Mfg. Co. at Mars
| Hill, and Gorham Mfg. Co. at Asheville.
The largest single contract handled by the Guest
firm was the new 200-ton bleached pulp plant for
Riegel Paper Corp. at Acme near Wilmington, which
cost approximately $17,000,000. Other important
projects include Naval Ammunition Depot, Charles-ton,
S. C. around $3,600,000 and other projects cost-ing
more than $2,500,000 each, with Textile Mills for
J. P. Stevens & Co., Pacific Mills, and Robbins Mills,
Dixie Cup Co., and Halifax Paper Co., the pharmaceu-tical
plant of Merck & Company, Elkton, Va., which
with process equipment, cost $5,000,000; the Cela-nese
Corp. of America Office Building, Charlotte, $5,-
500,000; Hammerlund Manufacturing Co.; projects
for Ecusta Paper Corp., Olin Cellophane Division of
Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp., Pisgah Forest, dye-ing
and finishing plant now in process for Collins &
Aikman, Albemarle, and others.
Office and Laboratory Building of Celanese Corporation of
America, Charlotte; cost of site, plant and equipment, $5,500,-
000, built by C. M. Guest <& Sons.
Sprague Electric Co. plant in Ashe County, site secured and
building erected by C. M. Guest & Sons, Greensboro.
Thus, from a one-man operation, more than 60
years ago, C. M. Guest & Sons has fully developed
into an experienced team of about 40 key men train-ed
in civil, electrical, mechanical, and architectural
engineering. It has developed into a construction
management firm handling all details from the origi-nal
site selections through completed and equipped
buildings. The two Guest sons have directed organi-zations
in recent years into construction of large in-dustrial
plants in the pulp-paper, electronics, electro-chemical
and chemical fields, in addition to contin-uing
operations in all phases of textiles.
Clingman M. Guest, founder of the firm, was a na-tive
of Anderson, S. C, and laid a solid foundation for
the greatly expanded construction firm his sons now
operate. When he died in 1928, his sons were well-trained
and equipped to handle and expand this fam-ily
organization. Walter C. Guest, attended Georgia
Tech, taking courses in civil engineering in prepara-tion
for his later leadership in the firm. In World
War I he was in the aviation construction unit of the
U. S. Navy in France and attended technical colleges
before joining his father in 1919. Romeo H. Guest is
a B. S. graduate in architectural engineering from
M. I. T. He joined the firm in 1929 and in 1937 open-ed
the Greensboro office through which the major
part of the Guest contracts are handled.
H. L. COBLE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
Greensboro, N. C.
H. L. Coble Construction Co., 1705 Battleground
Avenue, Greensboro, was started in 1931 by H. L.
Coble as individual owner, was incorporated in 1946
and in its 24 years of operation developed into one
of the larger general contracting firms in North Caro-lina.
From a very modest beginning, the firm has ex-panded
operations until its gross annual construction
contracts have ranged between $7,000,000 and $10,-
000,000, and for 1955 the total contracts amount to
approximately $18,000,000.
H. L. Coble started construction activities in 1921,
working his way up until he became a construction
superintendent in 1926. Five years later in the depth
of the depression, he started his own construction
firm. During his first three years of operation, his
work consisted primarily of alterations, additions
and repairs to existing structures. As the new build-a
nn nil n* i«ii »ii iiit
-4*# ftW^-^jgi^Ky^
PAGE 94 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY
ing program started again in the
State after the depression, he
began in 1934 to undertake all
types of new construction, in-cluding
some home construction.
When the war started in 1941,
private construction was stopped
and Mr. Coble started defense
construction, handling impor-tant
building programs in and
around Army and Marine Corps
Bases.
The P. Loriilard tobacco plant, now under construc-tion
in Greensboro, the largest plant of its type in the
world on one floor, is one of the largest contracts ever
handled by the Coble firm. The P. Loriilard plant,
on an 80-acre site, covers 12 1/> acres and in addition
has about 150,000 sq. ft. of basement space. This is
a strictly modern building of steel, masonry and
structural glazed tile. The estimated overall cost is
around $10,000,000. The plant was started in Au-gust
1954 and should be practically completed in Feb-ruary.
The P. Loriilard firm started storing hogs-heads
of tobacco in the basement last fall and the
factory should be in operation by or possibly before
mid-year in 1956. Several of the high Loriilard offi-cials
have visited the site and plant at the ground-breaking
exercise and since. These include Herbert
A. Kent who started as sales manager, worked up
through the ranks to president and chairman of the
board, now retired.
Officers of H. L. Coble Construction Co. are H. L.
Coble, president-treasurer; Leon G. Coble, first vice
president; C.J. Kern and D. V. Cochran, Jr., vice
presidents ; C. K. Miller, secretary and assistant
treasurer; D. E. Walker, assistant secretary. Key
men, many of whom, like the officers, have been in
the organization for many years, include John T.
Barker, J. L. Jones, John P. Clendenin and E. F.
Phillips, engineers and estimators ; W. B. Owen, W.
M. Messick, C. E. Kirkpatrick, V. W. Kinlaw, Henry
G. Nettles, James F. Kirkpatrick, W. W. Dill, E. W.
Canoy, P. D. Chamblee, Jr., James I. Simpson, R. L.
Shaver, and Robert Puckett, project managers, con-struction
superintendents and engineers.
William Neal Reynolds Coliseum. State College, Raleigh, cost-ing
over $1,300,000 and seating 12/)00, has handled more basket-ball
fans in past two seasons than any other building in the
Nation. Erected by H. L. Coble Construction Co.
200-room Men's Dormitory, A d T College, (Greensboro, buil
by H. L. Coble Construction Co.
Probably 80 per cent of the construction wor
handled by the Coble firm is in North Carolina, th
remaining 20 per cent ranging over South Carolira
Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama. The firr
employs an average ranging from 600 to 800 worker
and the average annual payroll is approximately $2
000,000.
In addition to the P. Loriilard plant, the Coble firr
is now engaged in several other important construe
tion jobs, such as Outdoor Lighting Plant, Gener
Electric Co., Hendersonville, overall cost $4,000,00
to $5,000,000; Institute of Government Building
UNC, Chapel Hill, with auditorium addition, nearin
completion, $600,000; Airmen's Dorms and Dinin
Hall, Myrtle Beach, ( S. C. ) Air Force Base, U. 9
Army, nearing completion, $1,600,000 ; Phase II, Nik
Guided Missile Plant, Charlotte, nearing completioi
$1,600,000 ; addition to Hosiery plant, Burlington Ir
dustries, Green Cove Springs, Florida, $500,000 ; an
renovation of 208 barracks, Fort Bragg, $2,800,00(
During the past year, Coble has completed seven
other important contracts, including Heritage Furn
ture Co., High Point, overall expenditure, includin
equipment, $1,000,000; Agricultural Building, $400
000, and 202-room Men's Dormitory, $550,000, bot
at A & T College ; Woolworth Store Building, J. (
Penney Store Building and alterations to Pittma
Hospital, all in Fayetteville, approximately $800,00<
Other large contracts Coble has handled in the pa;
six or seven years include the 503-room Men's Dorm
tory, A & T College, supposedly the largest dormitoi
in the U.S. under one roof, approximately $1,000,00(
William Neal Reynolds Coliseum, State Colleg
Raleigh, over $1,300,000; Epileptic Hospital, Raleig
general contract about $350,000; addition to Nori
Carolina Educational Buildin
Raleigh, contract about $600,00<
Ellis-Stone Building, Green
boro, general contract about $1
420,000 ; and addition to Meyer
Department Store, Greensbor
over $1,000,000.
During the war period whe
the Coble firm actually got its b
start in larger construction fro
1941 to 1946, it handled impo
tant projects ranging from on
half million to over two millic
dollars. These included hou
ing project at Cherry Poin
housing project at Augusta, Ga
housing project, Elizabeth Cit;
enlisted men's barracks, perm
Summer-fall, l 955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 95
nent barracks, subsistence buildings, addition to Ad-ministration
Building, addition Post Exchange and
new auditorium, all at Cherry Point; officers quar-ters
at Camp Lejeune ; and Airfield, Kinston.
T. A. LOVING AND COMPANY
GoMsboro, N. C.
T. A. Loving and Company, Wachovia Bank Build-ing,
Goldsboro, one of the largest construction firms
in North Carolina, was started in 1925 by T. A. Lov-ing.
In the 30 years of operation, this firm has de-veloped
and expanded until its gross annual contracts
average between $6,000,000 and $8,000,000. In Octo-ber
1955, the company had in process contracts which
totaled $10,000,000.
T. A. Loving and Company was in operation when
the firm of W. P. Rose Company, Goldsboro, a large
construction firm went out of business, and many of
the employees and officials of the Rose organization
became affiliated with T. A. Loving and Company.
T. A. Loving came to Goldsboro from Culpepper,
Va., in 1925 and began building bridges ; the first be-ing
an overhead bridge on Route 117 near Fremont,
and the second an overhead bridge on the Raleigh
Highway. From this, he expanded into one of the
largest bridge contractors in the State.
John Loving, 18 years old, joined his brother about
two years after he started, is senior vice president
of T. A. Loving and Company, and continues to han-dle
the bridge building operations. Raymond A. Bry-an,
now president of the firm and former secretary-treasurer
of W. P. Rose Company, joined Mr. Loving
as a partner in 1931 to expand operations to include
building construction. C. B. McNairy, formerly with
W. P. Rose Company, joined T. A. Loving and Com-pany
in 1932 and is now secretary-treasurer of the
firm.
In 1937 the T. A. Loving and Company was incor-porated
with T. A. Loving as president ; John S. Lov-ing
and C. B. McNairy, vice presidents ; Raymond
Bryan, secretary ; and these were the four directors.
When Mr. Loving died in 1947, Mr. Bryan became
president, with John Loving as senior vice presi-dent;
W. E. Smith, Jr., and D. C. Rouse, vice presi-dents;
C. B. McNairy, secretary-treasurer; E. L.
Annex to Agricultural Building, recently completed by
T. A. Loving & Co., Goldsboro.
Hospital and admissions building N. G. State Hospital at Mor-ganton,
costing more than $1,000,000, also built by T. A. Loving.
Cook, assistant secretary; and C. A. Allred, assis-tant
treasurer.
T. A. Loving and Company has developed into a
very substantial and extensive organization. The
firm has an authorized capital of $400,000, of which
$250,000 was paid in the early days and later all of
the authorized capital was paid in. The firm now has
capital assets of approximately $1,600,000. The an-nual
payroll ranges above $1,500,000 and at times
reaches as high as $2,500,000. Recent employment
exceeded 1,100.
During World War II, T. A. Loving and Company
erected $40,000,000 worth of buildings at Fort Bragg
in nine months. During that time an average of a
new building was completed every 33 minutes of
working time, and the firm employed a maximum of
32,000 workers with a daily payroll of $150,000. At
Cherry Point T. A. Loving Company and Associates,
in a joint venture, completed $60,000,000 in perma-nent
construction over a period of four years; also
in a joint venture, recently completed a $22,000,000
contract at Fort Knox, Ky.
Probably 75 percent of the construction work han-dled
by the Loving firm is in North Carolina, but con-tracts
are also handled in ten southeastern states
—
from Pennsylvania and Kentucky to Florida, in Flor-ida
and Virginia primarily. Fifty percent of its work
is in institutional construction, including government
buildings, 25 percent is in commercial buildings and
25 percent in utilities and bridges.
T. A. Loving and Company now has under con-struction
contracts amounting to $3,000,000 at Sey-mour
Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro; $1,300,000
at Goldsboro State Hospital ; $2,400,000 at Pope Field
and Fort Bragg; $2,500,000 bridge over Croatan
Sound and various other contracts elsewhere.
T. A. Loving and Company has erected numbers of
important buildings in recent years, particularly at
government installations and State institutions.
Among the important contracts completed are:
Hospital Building, State Hospital at Morganton,
$1,070,000; Low Rent Housing Projects for Golds-boro
Housing Authority, $4,000,000; Operations
Hanger, $1,650,000 and Utilities at Camp Lejeune,
$1,200,000; Ocean Terminal, Morehead City, $2,000,-
000; Carteret County Bridge, Morehead City to At-lantic
Beach, $1,400,000; and Aviation Fuel Termi-nal,
between Morehead and Beaufort, $1,200,000.
T. A. Loving, founder of the firm, was a farm boy
PAGE 96 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall. 1955
from Culpepper, Va., and attended the University of
Virginia. He started building houses in Culpepper
and later came to Goldsboro where he began con-structing
bridges. By hard work and good manage-ment,
he built his firm into one of the largest con-tracting
organizations in the State. He was a member
of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic and North
Carolina Railroad, a Kiwanian, an Elk, a Mason and a
Shriner. His brother, John who joined him in 1927,
is now senior vice-president in charge of bridge and
other heavy construction. He has lived where his
work called him and is now a resident of Fishersville,
Va.
Raymond A. Bryan was also a farm boy and a na-tive
of Newton Grove, Sampson County. He attend-ed
State College and in 1924 became associated with
W. P. Rose Company, being made secretary-treas-urer
in 1927. In 1931 when W. P. Rose Company
went out of business, Mr. Bryan joined T. A. Loving
as a partner, became secretary and treasurer in 1937
when the firm was incorporated, and president when
Mr. Loving died in 1947. Mr. Bryan has served on
the Board of Directors for several years and was
president of the Carolinas Branch, Associated Gen-eral
Contractors in 1940. He is a director of the Wa-chovia
Bank and Trust Co., Goldsboro, on the Board
of Trustees of Meredith College, on the Board of the
Engineering Foundation of State College, member of
the State Ports Authority, president of the Goldsboro
United Fund, on the Budget Finance Board of the
First Baptist Church, an Elk and a Mason.
C. B. McNairy, although a native of Missouri, grew
up in Kinston and attended the University of North
Carolina. In 1925 he became affiliated with W. P.
Rose Company and joined T. A. Loving and Company
in 1932. He became vice president later and for sev-eral
years has been secretary-treasurer of the firm.
GEORGE W. KANE
Roxboro, N. C.
George W. Kane, Roxboro, with additional offices
in Durham, Greensboro and Henderson, was started
as a general contracting firm in 1920 by George W.
Kane, who continues operations as individual owner.
In the 35 years of operation, Mr. Kane has erected
many of the most imposing buildings in North Caro-lina
and has become one of the largest contractors in
the State.
Mr. Kane came to North Carolina in 1919 as super-intendent
of construction for the John W. Furguson
Co. of New York and New Jersey, to build an addi-tion
to the Roxboro Cotton Mills. When the contract
was completed, Mr. Kane resigned and started his
own general contracting firm. Mr. Kane's opera-tions
have expanded over the years to include many
of the State's finer industrial, institutional, commer-cial,
governmental and residential buildings.
In order to be nearer to the construction projects,
Mr. Kane has opened three offices in the State in
addition to the original office in Roxboro. The Dur-ham
office, the main office, was opened in 1923, the
Greensboro office in 1925 and the Henderson Office
in 1953. These four offices have continued to operate
since they were first opened. Mr. Kane, in construc-tion
work all of his adult life, is general manager of
the organization and has in the offices a construc-tion
manager, each an experienced builder, careful
estimator and good buyer.
Among the notable buildings erected by the Kane
firm in North Carolina are 111 Corcoran Street (Hill
Building), 17 stories high; Insurance Building for
Durham Life Insurance Company, Raleigh, 15
stories; the Roxboro Building and Peoples Bank,
Roxboro; the S & W Cafeteria, Greensboro; and the
Hudson-Belk Store, Raleigh; The First Baptist
Church and Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, both
in Greensboro.
In defense construction the Kane firm handled a
housing project of 550 units at Fort Bragg and seven
projects for the U. S. Navy at Camp Lejeune, cost-ing
approximately $10,000,000. At present the firm
has under construction the Home Office Building for
the Occidental Life Insurance Co. in Raleigh ; at the
new Wake Forest College Campus in Winston-Salem,
the Chapel, the Library, University Center, Gymna-sium
and President's Home.
In college construction the firm erected all the
buildings on the old Wake Forest College Campus
built in the last twenty years ; buildings at Woman's
College, UNC, Greensboro ; several buildings on Uni-versity
Campus, Chapel Hill ; and buildings of North
Carolina College, Durham.
Church buildings include the Chapel at Wake For-est
College; First Baptist Church and First Presby-
Durham Life Insurance Co. Building, largest office building in
Raleigh, erected by George W. Kane, general contractor.
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 97
Modern home from model photo of Occidental Life Insurance
Company, Cameron Village, Raleigh, costing around $1,750,000,
formal opening in April, George W. Kane, Roxboro-Durham,
general contractor. Kemp, Bunch and Jackson, Jacksonville,
Fla., architects associated with Leif Valund and James A.
Scovil, Raleigh.
terian Church, Roxboro; Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church, Greensboro; and Davie Street Methodist
Church, Burlington. School buildings include sev-eral
for Durham city and county; Henderson High
School; Person County Schools, Roxboro; Physical
Education Building for Oxford Orphanage and
school buildings in Oxford.
In industrial construction the Kane firm erected
the Bull Durham Factory, Durham, for American
Tobacco Co.; Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Greensboro;
buildings for Burlington Industries, Inc., Greens-boro
; Collins and Aikman at Roxboro and Norwood
;
two additions to Hanes Hosiery Mills, Winston-
Salem ; Roxboro Cotton Mills and Village ; and Erwin
Mills, Durham.
Hospital construction includes hospital facilities,
Jacksonville, N. C. ; Watts Hospital additions, Dur-ham
; Person County Memorial Hospital and Nurses'
Home, Roxboro; Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, Ahos-kie;
Granville County Hospitals, Oxford; and Babies
Hospital, Wrightsville Beach. Other buildings erect-ed
are powerhouse and additions, Reidsville; Mont-gomery
Ward Building and Duke Power Office Build-ing,
Greensboro ; Center Theater, Durham ; and Kir-by
Theater, Roxboro.
Among the fine residences erected by the Kane firm
are the Julian Price, Ralph Price, Howard Holder-ness,
Caesar Cone, Joseph M. Bryan, Alfred M.
Scales, Lynn B. Williamson, and Paul B. Schenck
residences, all in Greensboro ; Ralph P. Hanes, Win-ston-
Salem; L. Watts Norton, George Watts Carr,
and S. P. Alexander, Durham; and D. St. Pierre
DuBose and Larry Flynn, Chapel Hill.
Mr. Kane is a former member of the State High-way
and Public Works Commission of North Caro-lina,
past president of the Carolinas Branch of Asso-ciated
General Contractors of America, Inc., and at
present is a National Director of Associated General
Contractors of America, Inc., past president of Rox-boro
Rotary Club. He has been active on various
committees in both civic and business clubs.
OVER 10,000 NEW EMPLOYERS TO
BE COVERED BY AMENDED ES LAW
An estimated 10,350 additional employers will be taxed and
an estimated 60,000 new, workers will be covered by the pro-visions
of the amendment to the North Carolina Employment
Security Law, effective January 1, 1956, when the amendment
becomes fully operative during the year.
The newly covered employers will be those employing four
to seven workers, inclusive, except for exempted employment,
to be added to the 17,500 employers of eight or more workers,
already covered by the law, and the additional covered workers
of these firms will be added to almost 1,000,000 workers who
have wage credits by virtue of having worked for the already
covered employers.
A break-down of most of the additional workers to be covered
indicates that an estimated 23,300 will be added in wholesale
and retail trade, another 11,350 in the service trades, and about
6,750 in manufacturing, probably about one-third of these in
lumbering employment.
The State's Employment Security Commission, Chairman
Henry E. Kendall reports, is planning to make information
available through various media to employers who may be sub-ject
to the law in the hope of eliminating any misunderstand-ing
as to what firms are liable (covered) or when the first
reports and tax payments are due.
Informational meetings were scheduled in 55 communities
in the State in the last two weeks of January, at which pro-visions
of the law were to be explained by ESC representatives
to all employers to be covered who would attend. In addition,
ESC will send notices to all employers of three or more, up to
seven, for last year, since many of them may expect to add a
worker. This would bring them under the law. Every effort
is being made to advise all who may become liable, so they may
take proper steps to prevent trouble, including penalties, later.
WM. MUIRHEAD CONSTRUCTION CO.
Durham, N. C.
Wm. Muirhead Construction Company, East Trin-ity
Avenue, Durham, was organized in 1924 by Wm.
Muirhead, native of Scotland, as individual owner.
With about ten to twenty employees, Mr. Muirhead
fulfilled contracts in the first year amounting to
about $80,000. In the past five years, total of the
firm's contracts have averaged around $4,500,000,
annually, but in the year 1952, the total of all con-tracts
handled reached $6,500,000.
When Mr. Muirhead started seeking construction
contracts, his first job was remodeling the old C. W.
Tome home on East Main Street. His second job
was erecting a cooperage in Oxford (where tobacco
hogsheads were made for Liggett & Myers Tobacco
Co.).
The Muirhead firm has expanded until it now em-ploys
an average of 250 workers and at times this
number reaches 500. The annual payroll is approx-imately
$1,000,000.
In 1932 Wm. Muirhead Construction Co. was in-corporated
and now has capital assets in excess of
$500,000. Mr. Muirhead is president; Mack Stout,
vice president and chief engineer; E. F. Matteson,
vice president in charge of field operations; A. L.
Muirhead, son of the president, vice president and
secretary, and Eric Copeland is assistant secretary
and treasurer.
The Muirhead firm does more than half of its con-struction
work in North Carolina, although some
large contracts are handled in Virginia and some in
South Carolina. The four principal types of con-struction
are industrial, commercial, and institution-al
buildings and public housing; however, the firm
also builds power plants, water works and sewage
treatment plants, and also carries on city street
asphalt paving operations. The firm a few years ago
took over the McGuire Asphalt Paving plant which
PAGE 98 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-Fall, 1955
A project representing
an investment of $50,-
000,000 has recently been
completed and machin-ery
is being installed at
the General Electric In-dustrial
Controls plant in
Salem, Va. This work
has been done and is be-ing
continued as a joint
venture by the Walsh
Construction Co. of New
York and Muirhead un-der
the name of Walsh-
Muirhead.
An interesting project
carried out by Mr. Muir-head
was the recent de-velopment
of the model
village of Glen Lennox
and the Glen Lennox
Sopping Center adjoin-ing
the town limits of
Chapel Hill. Mr. Muir-head
purchased 130 acres, erected the shopping
center buildings, and built 440 Garden Apartments,
and a few residences. Most of this construction was
done in 1950, with two later additions and the busi-ness
section. This property is listed on the Orange
County tax books for tax purposes at $2,650,000.
Glen Lennox won the National Home Owners Award
for 1951. Louis Graves, Chapel Hill sage, sniffed at
Mr. Muirhead's suggestion of a Country Club name
for this development ; later Mr. Muirhead suggested
Glen Lennox and Mr. Graves approved enthusiastic-ally.
Lennox was Mrs. Muirhead's family name and
there is also a district of Lennox in Scotland.
Another intensely interesting project now being
handled by the Muirhead firm is the restoration of
Tryon's Palace in New Bern as it was when occu-pied
by Royal Governor Tryon. This contract is for
approximately $700,000.
Other projects now in process in addition to the
joint venture in Salem, Va., are installation of all
machinery and equipment in the new Western Elec-tric
plant in Winston-Salem; the Southern High
School, Durham, $700,000, and others.
The State Fair Arena, Raleigh, described as Amer-ica's
most modern big building and the most widely
acclaimed building in modern North Carolina his-tory,
is another Muirhead achievement. Other build-ings
erected by the firm include manufacturing build-ings
and redrying plants, American Tobacco Co.,
Durham; Liggett & Myers warehouses, Durham;
waterworks plant, Rocky Mount, and many others.
Muirhead, a native of Motherwell, Scotland, is a
graduate of the Royal Technical College in Glasgow
in construction and civil engineering. As a part of
this training he worked on several training projects
in Scotland without salary and at some cost. He
came to America in 1922 and spent one year in New
York City, coming to Durham in 1923. He worked
for other firms in the construction of Lincoln Hos-pital
and Trinity Methodist Church before starting
construction on his own. His first office was in a
small space on Main Street, and later he moved into
the Snow Building, a business and office building
which he now owns. He is a past president of the
Glen Lennox, modern and attractive community development
on ISO-acre tract, adjoining Chapel Hill, consisting of shopping,
center, j.'/O garden apartments and, a few residences. Raleigh
Road, lower left, joins Durham highway, left. Developed and
owned by Wm. Muirhead Construction Co., Durham. Outside
residence developments, upper left and lower right.
Associated General Contractors of America, serving
as such in 1944 and has since been treasurer of this
organization. He was president of the Carolinas
Branch of A. G. C. in 1934. He is vice president of
the Board of Governors of the Building Research In-stitute
of the Academy of Science, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Muirhead is a member of the Consulting Con-struction
Councils of America, chairman of the Hous-ing
Authority of the City of Durham, and an enthus-iastic
member of the Board of the American Councils
to Improve Our Neighborhoods, Inc., an organiza-tion
promoted by interested citizens to remove slums
and improve neighborhoods throughout the United
States. Leaving out much of his "Who's Who in
America" sketch, Mr. Muirhead is a member of the
The Governor Tryon Palace, from old draioing, not considered']
too accurate, now being restored at contract cost of $700,000\
by Wm. Muirhead Construction Co.. Durham.
""
THfi TRYON S»AF-^
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 99
First Presbyterian Church in Durham, a Mason, and
a Shriner.
Mack Stout, vice president and chief engineer, who
was captain of the N. C. State Football Team in 1931,
joined the Muirhead firm in 1933. E. F. Matteson,
vice president handling field operations, is a Lieuten-ant
Commander, U. S. Naval Reserve. A. L. Muir-head,
vice president and secretary of the firm, is also
president of and operates the Constructors Supply
Co., Ready Mixed Concrete firm, located in a build-ing
adjoining the Muirhead office building.
GOODE CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION
Charlotte, N. C.
Goode Construction Corporation, Builders Build-ing,
Charlotte, was organized and incorporated by
Roy L. Goode in 1910 and in 1926 received North
Carolina License No. 1 for general contractors. In
its 45 years of operations, Goode Construction Corp.
has never failed to complete a contract and has com-pleted
contracts representing construction in excess
of $150,000,000 in this period.
When Roy L. Goode incorporated his firm, it was
known as Goode Construction Co. With him were
his father, A. J. Goode, and his brother, A. L. Goode,
who were the officers and directors of the firm at
that time. In 1933 the charter was revised and the
present name adopted. In 1941 Vernon D. Goode
started work as a youth in his father's firm, and
after four years of service in World War II, moved
up the line until he became vice president and gen-eral
manager of the firm's operations.
Present officers of Goode Construction Corp. are
Roy L. Goode, president ; Vernon D. Goode, vice pres-ident
and general manager; L. P. Hazel, vice presi-dent;
F. R. Osborne, secretary and treasurer, and
John W. Gustafson, assistant secretary.
The largest contract ever handled by Goode Con-struction
Corp. was the erection of a large number
of buildings at Camp Lejeune, the contract price of
which was in excess of $50,000,000. The speediest
construction job ever handled by the company was
the record construction of the $300,000 Charlotte
Armory in 90 days in 1929, in order that it might be
ready for the Annual Encampment of the United
Charlotte Armory and Auditorium, erected in 90 days in 1929,
hurried construction for Annual Encampment of United Con-federate
Veterans, meeting in Charlotte that year, handled by
Goode Construction Corp.
Memorial Hospital addition, Charlotte, erected by Goode
Construction Corp., Charlotte.
Confederate Veterans, meeting in Charlotte that
year. The first Goode contract was for construction
of the Charlotte Steam Laundry, which was then,
and still is, one of the large commercial buildings in
Charlotte.
Among the other buildings erected in Charlotte by
Goode are the Law Building, the original Mercy Hos-pital,
the recent addition to the Charlotte Memorial
Hospital, the Sears-Roebuck Building, and the recent
General Motors Training Center.
The outstanding record established by Goode is
the firm's operation for ten years at the lowest com-pensation
rate that can be achieved with the Employ-ment
Security Commission. Another record indicat-ing
the high confidence achieved by the Goode firm
is that since 1946 it has completed $40,000,000 in
building construction, one-third of which has been
on a negotiated basis—that is, contracts awarded to
the firm which were not open to competitive bids.
Goode Construction Corp. operates primarily in
North Carolina and Virginia, but is also licensed
and handles construction jobs in South Carolina,
Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The bulk of its
construction work is in industrial and commercial
construction with a fair percentage in institutional
and governmental work.
The firm employs an average ranging from 200 to
250 workers in all of its jobs, the average in North
Carolina ranging around 150 workers. The average
annual payroll in North Carolina is around $750,000.
One of the largest contracts
of its type in the southeastern
states was the erection by the
Goode firm of the Lynchburg
High School with seven and one-half
acres of floor space under
roof. This contract was for $4,-
500,000 ; another was the Roan-oke
Housing Project in Roanoke,
Va., at the cost of $6,000,000;
others are the Central State Hos-pital,
Petersburg, Va. ; Johnston
Memorial Hospital, Abingdon,
Va. ; and Holston Valley Hos-pital
in Kingsport, Tenn.
Roy L. Goode, founder and
head of the firm, is a native of
Alexandria, Va., and studied law.
PAGE 1 00 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1955
He became interested in construction work which he
followed for a few years in his home area, coming to
Charlotte in 1910 to organize his own firm. Mr.
Goode is a former president and has been treasurer
for a number of years of the Carolinas Branch, AGC.
He is a member of the N. C. Licensing Board for
Contractors. Mr. Goode is a member of Saint Johns
Baptist Church, a Mason and a Shriner.
Vernon D. Goode, son of the founder, is a graduate
of the Charlotte City Schools and studied civil engi-neering
at Duke University. He started work with
his father as a youth and became a full-time em-ployee
in 1941 as labor foreman, later becoming vice
president and general manager. Entering service
in World War II as a private, he served in the Corps
of Engineers under Colonel J. Norman Pease, two
years of which were in the South Pacific. He was
discharged as a Captain. He is a member of Cove-nant
Presbyterian Church and the Charlotte Kiwanis
Club.
Melvin J. Maas, Major General, USMCR, Ret,
Chairman, President's Committee on Employment
of the Physically Handicapped: "To a free man, the
individual is possessed of dignity and an eternal des-tiny.
For this reason ... all good citizens should
strive to increase employment opportunities for those
qualified handicapped men and women among us who
seek only work and a chance to play their part in the
drama of life."
Within three years, rehabilitated workers will have
paid back into the Federal Treasury in income taxes
all the money the Federal Government spent for their
vocational rehabilitation.
J. M. THOMPSON COMPANY
Raleigh, N. C.
J. M. Thompson Company, Raleigh, was organized
by J. M. Thompson as individual owner and was op-erated
until 1950 as J. M. Thompson & Co. The firm
was incorporated in 1950. In its 34 years of opera-tion,
this firm has erected numerous buildings in
Raleigh and this area, expanding its business until
its gross annual contracts have averaged around $5,-
000,000 in recent years.
When Mr. Thompson started his firm, his prin-cipal
work was building and re-building residences
and small store buildings. Not more than ten work-ers
were employed in the early days. For several
years the firm has been branching out into federal,
state, county and city construction and into erecting
commercial and industrial buildings. Probably 30
per cent of the work now is in governmental con-struction,
40 per cent in institutional buildings, and
Men's Dormitory, St. Augustine College, Raleigh, erected by
J. M. Thompson Co., Raleigh, Holloway-Reeves, architect.
Nurses Home, N. C. State Hospital, Raleigh, erected by J. M.
Thompson Co., Allen J. Maxwell, Jr., Goldsboro, architect.
probably 15 per cent each in industrial and com-mercial
buildings.
When the firm was incorporated in 1950, J. M.
Thompson had begun to ease up in his activities. He
was named chairman of the board and treasurer.
His two sons became officers, Hal A. Thompson,
president, and J. Wiley Thompson, vice president.
J. E. Merritt, who had been with the firm for ten
years, was elected secretary. When J. M. Thomp-son
died in 1953, his widow, Mrs. Lily B. Thompson,
succeeded him as treasurer. The two Thompson
sons and Mr. Merritt are directors of the firm.
J. M. Thompson Co. is one of the older and more
substantial general contracting firms in the State
and operates under an unlimited and unclassified
license under which it may erect buildings of any
size and of any type. Practically all of its operations
are in North Carolina, largely in and around Raleigh,
although occasionally contracts are handled in Vir-ginia.
The firm employs an average of about 125
workers, a figure which reaches 200 in periods of
large and more numerous contracts. Its average
annual payroll ranges around $300,000 and at times
reaches $500,000, particularly when sub-contract
operations are included.
J. M. Thompson Co. has a number of important
contracts now in process. Among the more impor-tant
ones in Raleigh in process now are the Epileptic
Buildings, State Hospital, $350,000; Baptist State
Convention Building, $300,000 ; Masonic Grand Lodge
Building, $250,000 ; American Legion, State Depart-ment
Headquarters Building, $150,000; Alumni Me-morial
Building, State College, $130,000; Hayes Bar-ton
Methodist Church Sanctuary, $160,000 ; Male pa-tients'
Dining Room, State Hospital, $100,000; ad-dition
to Polk Hall, State College, $120,000 ; Pulp and
Paper Laboratories, State College, $102,000 ; and In-bordenHigh
School, Enfield, $130,000; Trent Park
School, New Bern, $125,000; and other school and
office buildings and filling stations.
Among the important buildings the Thompson firm
has erected in past years in Raleigh are Carolina
Power and Light office building, Carolina Power and
Light Service building, the Tire Sales & Service
Building, Balentine's Restaurant, Land's Jewelry
Store, Jean's Store, Wayland Heights Development,
Longview Gardens School and Shopping Center,
Wake County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Nurses'
Home St. Agnes Hospital, and Men's dormitory, Saint
Augustine College; Nurses' Home, State Hospital;
Southern Railway Passenger Station, Four Oaks
High School and addition to Princeton High School,
Johnston County ; and Gymnasium at Cary and Gar-ner
High Schools; High School and Elementary
School Buildings at Goldston, Chatham County; Ad-ministration
Building, Gymnasium, Auditorium and
Classroom Buildings, Morrision Training School at
Hoffman ; Marine Biological Laboratory at Beaufort,
and numerous others.
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 101
J. M. Thompson, founder of the firm, was a native
of Bahama, Durham County, and in his early days
was a machinist working for several years in Rich-mond,
Va., and Goldsboro. He came to Raleigh in
1920 and started his own construction firm, in 1921.
He was a member of the Carolinas Branch, AGC, and
was one of the organizers of Trinity Methodist
Church and was head of its board of stewards, church
treasurer, and on the Board of Missions for many
years. He was a Mason, a Shriner and a member of
the Raleigh Exchange Club.
Hal A. Thompson and J. Wiley Thompson, his sons,
are both natives of Raleigh and both members of the
American Legion. Hal Thompson took construction
engineering at State College and was called into mil-itary
service before graduation. He was a Lieuten-ant
in the Air Corps in World War II, has been on the
Board of Stewards for Trinity Methodist Church for
10 years, is a past president of the Raleigh Exchange
Club, a Mason, and a boat enthusiast. Wiley Thomp-son
is a graduate of High Point College, is a veteran
of the Korean Service in the Army Finance Corps, a
member and chairman of the finance committee of
vVestover Methodist Church, and a member of the
Sertoma Club. J. E. Merritt is a native of Chapel
Hill, an A.B., an M.A. and a Phi Beta Kappa of
Carolina, attends White Memorial Presbyterian
Church and is an Elk. He joined the Thompson firm
i in 1941 and was elected secretary when the firm was
incorporated in 1950.
FOWLER-JONES CONSTRUCTION CO.
Winston-Salem, N. C.
Fowler-Jones Construction Co., 510 Reynolds
Building, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was or-ganized
in 1925, at Pilot Mountain by O. T. Fowler
and C. E. Jones, both natives of Surry County, as the
Fowler-Jones Lumber Company. In 1928 the firm
moved to Winston-Salem. This firm is one of the
chief builders in developing the new Wake Forest
College at Reynolda, near Winston-Salem, and has de-veloped
operations until the amount of its contracts
average around $3,250,000 annually.
Soon after the lumber firm was organized, its
first contract was a four-room house for $850.00.
Mr. Fowler did most of the work with three helpers
and completed the contract satisfactorily. That
launched the building operations. Gradually the
construction work grew and became more impor-tant
than lumber buying and selling. Two years
after the firm moved to Winston-Salem the lumber
operations were discontinued. Without formal
education, these two farm boys have developed one
of the largest and soundest construction firms in the
Piedmont Area.
In 1936 the two partners incorporated with O. T.
Fowler, president; C. E. Jones, vice president and
manager; and D. C. Crutchfield, Jr., secretary and
treasurer. As the sons of these founders grew up
they joined the organization full time. D. S. Jones,
with the firm for 20 years, is assistant treasurer.
G. A. Jones, with the firm for 18 years, is assistant
secretary. O. T. Fowler, Jr. has been with the firm
for five years.
Practically all of the Fowler-Jones operations are
carried on in North Carolina, but some construction
is done in Virginia and South Carolina, and the firm
has license to operate in Tennessee. Although the
firm started construction of residences it has drift-ed
away from home construction and now probably
40% of its work is on industrial buildings, 35%
on institutional buildings and 25 per cent in
commercial structures. Approximately 250 workers
are employed, on the average. This number may go
as high as 325 in periods of heavy construction. The
annual payroll ranges from $900,000 to $1,000,000.
On the new campus of Wake Forest College,
Fowler-Jones has completed the Science Building
costing more than $750,000, and is now erecting
four Men's Dormitories, Law Building, Maintenance
Building and Faculty Apartments, costing around
$4,500,000. Also under construction at this time
are two other projects: Salem College Academy
Annex and Maple Springs Methodist Church, each
costing about $200,000.
Completed over the years by Fowler-Jones are
such buildings as the Western Electric Office Build-ing,
Lexington Road, Winston-Salem, running into
a sizeable figure ; the 1954 addition to Hanes Hosiery
Mills, Winston-Salem, $500,000; two Happy Hill
Garden Housing projects, Winston-Salem, at $2,500,-
000; the Consolidated Carver High School, Forsyth
County, $1,000,000; Library and Home Economics
Buildings, Women's College, U. N. C, Greensboro,
$1,500,000 ; dairy plant of Southern Dairies, Winston-
Salem, more than $500,000; Nylon Mill of Duplan
Corporation, Winston-Salem, $375,000; the Virdan
Motor Lodge and Restaurant of 40 units, Danville,
Va., $300,000; the Northwest Consolidated High
School, Buncombe County, more than $400,000
;
Physical Education Building, Winston-Salem Teach-ers
College, $250,000; Public Library of Winston-
Salem and Forsyth County, more than $300,000;
Initial Unit of Eastern North Carolina Sanatorium,
Wilson, $500,000; Lewis Elementary School, Kins-ton,
$250,000; Baptist Hospital addition, Bowman
Gray School of Medicine and Out-Patient Building,
about $1,000,000, and addition to City Hospital
Winston-Salem, $500,000.
These two men have made good in a big way. In
addition to this business both are engaged in nu-merous
industrial and agricultural activities.
O. T. Fowler has had varied business experiences,
such as horse trading, buying and selling lumber and
farming. He is a pioneer automobile man, having
operated an agency in Pilot Mountain before enter-ing
the Modern Chevrolet Co. in Winston-Salem in
1932. Mr. Fowler has been an outstanding leader
in his community. He served on the Pilot

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The E. S. C. Quarterly
VOLUME 13, NO. 3-4 SUMMER-FALL, 1955
Industrial, Commercial, Institutional and Residential
Construction in N. C. in 1955 Broke All Former Records
illii
Vivo remarkable and unusual buildings in North Carolina—Charlotte Auditorium-Coliseum, top, and State
Fair Arena, Raleigh (descriptions on page 79.)
PUBLISHED BY
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
RALEIGH, N. C.
PAGE 78 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1955
The E. S. C. Quarterly
(Formerly The U.CC. Quarterly)
Vol. 14 No. 3-4 Summer-Fall, 1955
.«« Isfeued at Ra,i elgli, N. C. by the
5M?1QYMENT StCURiTY COMMISSION OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners: Mrs. Quentin Gregory, Halifax; Dr. Harry D.
Wolf. Chapel Hill; R. Dave Hall, Belmont; W. Benton Pipkin,
Reidsville; Bruce E. Davis, Charlotte; Crayon C. Efird, Al-bemarle.
State Advisory Council: Public representatives: James A. Brid-ger,
Bladenboro, Chairman; Sherwood Roberson, Roberson-ville;
W. B. Horton, Yanceyville; Mrs. R. C. Lewellyn, Dob-son,
and Dr. J. W. Seabrook, Payetteville; Employer repre-sentatives:
A. L. Tait, Lincolnton, and W. A. Egerton, Enka;
Employee representatives: Melvin Ward, Spencer, AFL, and
H. D. Lisk, Charlotte, CIO.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN Director
Unemployment Insurance Division
JOSEPH W. BEACH Director
North Carolina State Employment Service Division
M. R. DUNNAGAN Editor
Public Information Officer
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: E. S. C. Informational
Service, P. 0. Pox 5S9. Raleigh. N. C.
CONTENTS ~P~a~ge
N. C. Building Construction 78
Construction Industry Made Heavy Gains in N. C. in Decade 79
By Robert G. Kellogg
Front Page Pictures, Charlotte Auditorium-Coliseum, State Fair Arena. ... 79
Healthy 16-Year Industry Diversion Bolsters N. C. Economy 82
By Hugh M. Raper
Industry Joins ESC Personn-1 at Institute : Hodges Speaks 83
Highlights of Durham's Industry and Employment 84
By Elizabeth DeKay Johnson
Most of N. C. Large Contractors in Issue: More Sought 86
Carolinas Branch, AGC, Nation's Largest, Most Effective 87
Building Contractors Big Contributors to State Growth 87
J. A. Jones Constr. Co., McDevitt & Street Co (Thompson & Street
Co.), F. N. Thompson, Inc., Southeastern Constr. Co., C. M. Guest &
Sons, H. L. Coble Constr. Co , T. A. Loving & Co., George W. Kane,
Wm. Muirhead Constr. Co., Goode Constr. Corp , J. M. Thompson Co.,
Fowler-Jones Constr. Co., W. H. Weaver Constr. Co., King-Hunter,
Inc.. Barger Constr. Co., Robert H Pinnix, L. B. Gallimore, Contrane-
Graham Constr. Co., Littlei Constr. Co., West Building Co., Crain &
Denbo, Inc., 0. W. Goodwin, Inc., Wm. B. Oillard Constr. Co., Mer-chant
Constr. Co., Player Realty & Constr. Co , Johnson & Geddes,
E. G. Wilson Constr. Co., A. A. Ramsey & Son, Frank L Blum Constr.
Co., Hickory Constr. Co., Rogers Constr. Co., Wrenn-Wilson Constr.
Co., L. P. Cox Co., Du Bose Constr. Co , 0. L. Shackelford, Inc.,
Potts-Brown Co., Guy Frye & Sons, M. C, Crouch Lumber Co., H. D.
Barnes, Inc.
Over 10,000 New Employers to be Covered by ES Law 97
Developers-Builders Add Many Residence-Business Areas 120
Ervin Constr. Co., Marsh Realty Co., C. D. Spangler Constr. Co., York
Building Co.
N. C. Chapter, AIA, maintains High Professional Standards 125
Architects-Engineers Design, Supervise, Build Structures 125
J. N. Pease & Co., Six Associates, Inc.
Professional Engineers Promote Ethics and Competency...: 126
N. C. Society of Engineers Has 1400 Members 127
Many State Architects Win High Honors in Designs 128
A. G. Odell. Jr., & Associates, Leslie Boney, Small & Boaz, Deitrick-
McKnight & Associates, Clemmer & Horton, F. Carter Williams.
Special Trades Contractors Vital Group in Construction 129
Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning Group Protects Public 129
By A. Miles Hughey
Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning: Buensod-Stacey, Inc., Rowe-
Goodin-Jones, Inc., The Bonitz Insulation Co., Brownlow's, Inc.,
Stahl-Kider, Inc., Industrial Piping, Inc., Nicholson's, Inc., A. Z.
Price & Associates, Starr Davis Co.. Guy M. Beatty & Co., W. H.
Arthur Co. ; Sprinkling, Viking Sprinkler Co.
Painting, Paper Hanging, Decorating: D. C May Co., Brewer Paint
& Wallpaper Co., Claude M. May.
Electrical Contractors: Starr "Electric Co., Bryant Electric Co.,
Thompson Electric Co., Talley Electric Co., Colter & Chappel Elec-tric
Co., Hayes & Lunsford Electric Co.
Masonry, Stone Work. Tile Setting, Plastering: Mams Marble & Tile
Co., C. W. Kirkland Co., Shields, Inc., Jamts A. Smith & Son, Kal-man
Floor Co.
Roofing & Sheet Metal Work: Budd-Piper Roofing Co., Ingold Com-pany,
E. L. Scott Roofing & Heating Co.. The Young Co., Gate City
Roofing Co.
Handicapped Workers Add Much to State's Labor Force 153
By Ernest C. MeCracken
'Farm Placement Day' Expands Growers-Workers Services.... 154
Absenteeism Experience of Selected North Carolina Firms 155
By Hugh M. Raper
Big Gain in New Over Defunct Manufacturing Firms 157
By E. Stanhope Dunn
Note—Articles in this issue, not otherwise credited, written by M. R.
Dunnagan, Editor, some revised by firm officials.
N. C. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
North Carolina experienced its greatest building
year in 1955, exceeding the former record year ol
1953. Estimates, considered conservative, indicate
that construction costs in 1955 approach $500,000,-
000. Employment Security Commission records for
the first six months of 1955 indicated that average
monthly employment in all construction would exceec
42,000 as against 38,572 in 1954 and 41,420 in 1953
Construction payrolls for 1955 are estimated close tc
$165,000,000.
This issue deals with what may be termed by com-parison
as lighter construction, or building construc-tion,
as handled by general contractors and specia
building trades contractors, usually referred t(
as sub-contractors, even though a fair portion o:
their work is as prime contractors. In this classifica
tion are five major divisions: industrial, commer
cial, institutional, residential and governmental con
struction. Not handled in this issue, except for i
slight overlapping, are heavier construction con
tractors—those handling highways, large bridges
hydro-electric dam and plant construction, railroad:
and other heavier construction.
In the building construction, lighter construction
estimates place at $325,000,000 the total expendi
tures for 1955. General contractors and specia
trades contractors were expected to pay their em
ployees close to $110,000,000, fairly evenly divide(
between the two groups. For 1953, ESC record;
show, general contractors spent for employmen
$51,682,882 and the sub-contractors paid their work
ers $51,638,954—very little difference. In 1954 th
general contractors paid in wages and salaries $47,
457,386, while the sub-contractors (special trades)
paid their workers $51,421,489, almost $4,000,00'
more than the general contractors paid.
In the first six months of 1955 there were 681 gen
eral contractors employing a monthly average o
18,913 workers, against 16,196 in 1954 and 18,35
in 1953 (both first six months) , and 873 special trad
contractors employing a monthly average of 15,42
workers, against 14,676 in 1954 and 18,350 in 195?'
all for the first six months. The employers here ar
those subject to the Employment Security Law, noil
mally with eight or more employees. Many smai
contractors in both of these groups would raise th;
total several thousand, probably 5,000 to 8,000.
Some space is given to architects and engineers i
this issue, along with special trade contractors i
Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning; Painting
Papering and Decorating; Electrical Contracting!
Masonry, Stone Work, Tile Setting and Plastering!
Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors and Miscellail
eous Special Trade Contractors.
Present plans are to handle heavy construction, s\
described above, in our next issue. Since severa
though not all, concrete work contractors, includin,
contractors, are in road and street building and othej
heavy projects, intentions are to include them in tr
next issue.
NOTE—INDEX for two years, 1953-54, Vols. 11
12, postponed from last issue, had to be postpone
again, due to space limitations. Plans are to incluc
it in next issue.
Summer-Fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PA3E 79
mMM 11111
Construction Industry Made Heavy Gains in N.C. in Decade
By Robert G. Kellogg, Research & Methods Specialist, ESC Bureau of Research and Statistics
Since the end of World War II a greatly increased
piarket for industrial buildings and houses has pre-vailed
in North Carolina. This demand has brought
about several significant changes in the construction
industry : changes not only resulting in rapid growth
and expansion, but in existing trades becoming more
specialized.
This article will deal with these changes; how
;hey have influenced the growth and establishment
pf individual firms; the effect on employment and
(wages ; and the experience of the industry with un-employment,
and how this concerns not only the in-dividual
worker, but the whole economy as well,
i The construction industry is generally classified
nto three broad divisions: general building con-struction,
heavy construction and the special trades.
Heavy construction, i.e., highways, bridges, rail-roads,
dams, etc., is excluded from this article. Con-sideration
will be given to the general building and
special-trade contractors only.
General contractors are primarily engaged in the
construction of buildings such as private residences,
ipartment buildings, farm buildings, industrial and
ommercial structures including stores, light and
power plants, natural gas compressing stations, and
)il pumping stations; public buildings; and the al-
;eration and repair of these structures.
Today in the era of specialization, contractors in
;he special trades render services at the site of con-struction
either directly to the builder or as a sub-
:ontractor. Among the special trades are : plumb-ng,
heating, and air conditioning; painting, paper
langing, and decorating ; electrical installation ; ma-sonry,
stonework, tile setting, and plastering; car-pentering
and wood flooring ; roofing and sheet-metal
work; concreting work; general building mainten-ance
; and such miscellaneous trades as : structural
steel erection and ornamental metal work ; glass and
glazing ; excavation and foundation work ; wrecking
md demolition ; installation of machinery and equip-ment;
and insulating, shoreing, waterproofing, and
scaffolding erection ; house moving ; and dismantling
ndustrial machinery and equipment.
Between 1946 and 1955 the number of construc-
:ion firms covered by the Employment Security Law
las more than doubled. Those firms covered under
:he Law include all firms employing eight or more
workers, and those employing less than eight per-
TABLE I
Covered Employment and Wages Building Trades 1946-1955
YEAR
Number
Of
Firms
Monthly
Employ-vient
Annual
Gross
Wages
1946 636 25,515 $ 49,403,172
947 795 29,404 62,163,703
i948 872 32,002 71,272,909
949 1,022 28,375 67,873,216
950 1,083 35,272 84,367,530
951 1,200 42,040 107,707,642
952 1,333 37,925 107,505,292
953 1,528 34,369 103,321,836
954 1,554 32,493 98,878,875
955* 1,562 31,872
* First Quarter—(Relatively inactive season)
Average
Weekly
Earning
: 38.23
41.72
43.98
46.55
46.84
50.31
55.14
58.25
58.81
Park restaurant and observation lounge, Mt. Mitchell State
Park, costing about $100,000 with equipment ; built
by Hickory Construction Co., Hickory.
sons who elect voluntary coverage, thereby qualify-ing
their workers for unemployment insurance bene-fits
in the event of involuntary separations. In 1946
there were 636 construction firms ; by 1955 the num-ber
had increased to 1,562—a growth of nearly 150
percent. At the beginning of 1955 there were 685
general building firms and 877 special-trade con-tracting
concerns.
Among the general construction firms the number
of workers employed varies from less than eight
FRONT PAGE PICTURES
CHARLOTTE AUDITORIUM-COLISEUM—The Charlotte Auditorium and
Coliseum, costing approximately $4,700,000, have been described as "the most
modern and practical of their kind in the world." The two structures are on
a 22-acre site with a 13,000 car-parking area, three miles from the heart of
Charlotte on an eight-lane boulevard. The two buildings are 300 yards apart
and connected by a covered terraced walkway. The facilities were built by
Thompson & Street, general contractor, Charlotte, on plans drawn by A. G.
Odell, Jr., Charlotte architect.
The coliseum was dedicated in early October by Evangelist Billy Graham,
distinguished Charlotte native, with 13,000 people present. The coliseum is
round construction with radio steel ribs and framing steel. The exterior
walls are pre-cast concrete and glass and the roof is of structural steel with
light-weight concrete deck covered with aluminum. The dome, 332 ft. in
diameter, weighs one pound to the sq. ft. and is said to be the largest struc-tural
steel dome in the world. It is 135 feet high. The coliseum is designed
for conventions, indoor fairs, sports events, rodeos, circuses, water and ice
shows and trade shows. The arena is 100x212 feet. About 70,000 persons
attended the eight Ice Capades' performances.
The auditorium, seating 2,500, designed for concerts, ballets, operas and
the like, seats 1,500 on the main floor and 1,000 in the balcony. The stage is
100x50 feet. The interior color is deep blue and the building is said to be
acoustically perfect, sound proof and air conditioned.
THE STATE FAIR ARENA—also called coliseum, livestock judging pavil'on
(cow pasture) on the State Fair Grounds, just west of Raleigh, has been de-scribed
as America's most modern big building, a new epoch in architecture,
with ideal seating arrangement, the most significant building of late times,
the most important building in America today, offers an experience unparal-leled
even in a visit to the United Nations Building or Lever House in New
York, and many others.
The Arena is designed to serve agriculture, industry, commerce and the
people of North Carolina generally as a year-around center for educational,
inspirational and recreational events. The building is 300 feet in diameter,
elliptical in shape, with central arena floor 221 feet long and 127 feet at the
widest part of the ellipse. It contains 6,080 permanent opera-type and box
seats, with space for about 4,000 portable seats. About 25.000 square feet of
display space is provided in the lobbies and lower-level concourses.
The building is, at the lobby level, of translucent heat-absorbing plate
glass, and of translucent glass above. The roof, saddle-shaped, is suspended
on cables between 90-feet parabolic arches, probably the largest suspended
roof in existence. It is of a combination metal-asbestos insulation-built-in
construction. The roof is white, the outside of a light green tint. Adequate
lighting, hot air heat and ventilation are provided.
The Arena, exclusive of grounds, landscaping, portable seats and other
portable fixtures, cost approximately $1,600,000. It was built by William
Muirhead Construction Co., Durham, to plans drawn by William Henley
Deitrick, architect, Raleigh, with the late Matthew Nowicki, N. C. State
College, as consultant, and Severud-Elstad-Krueger, New York, as consulting
engineers. E. F. Matteson was general superintendent and E. A. Fulton, job
superintendent. Other contractors were Thompson Electrical Co., Raleigh;
Smith & Mills, Plumbing, Raleigh; Thompkins-Johnston, heating. Charlotte;
Ptahl-Rider. air distribution, Raleigh, and Southern Desk Co., seating. Hickory.
The arena is the realization of a dream of many years of Dr. J. S. Dorton,
State Fair manager.
PAGE 80 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 195!
(voluntary coverage) to
over 500. A total of 663
firms employ fewer than
100 workers ; 20 firms be-tween
100 and 250 per-sons,
while only three
hire over 400 workers.
In the special-trade
group, over 265 firms en-gage
in the plumbing,
heating, and air condi-tioning
fields; 135 spe-cialize
in masonry, stone-work,
tile setting, and
plastering ; and 120 firms
are classified in the elec-trical
field. There are
nearly 100 roofing and
sheet - metal work con-tractors
; and about 65
painting, paper hanging,
and decorating concerns.
Of a total of 877 of these
special - trade firms, 10
employ over 100 workers. The plumbing, heating,
and air conditioning trades account for 4 of the 10
firms with over 100 employees.
Employment in the construction trades showed
rapid growth between 1946 and 1951 by increasing
from a monthly employment average of 25,515 cov-ered
workers in 1946 to 35,272 in 1950 and 42,040
workers in 1951, the peak employment year. By 1954
the average monthly employment level had decreased
to 32,493 workers, the lowest since 1946. Several
factors should be considered when explaining em-ployment
losses since 1951. Rising costs of building
materials and increased wage patterns have caused
some contractors to keep personnel requirements at
a bare minimum. Innovations in building methods,
plus new time-saving materials have contributed in
some degree to the pattern of employment decline.
During the first quarter of 1955, a total of 31,872
workers were covered during an average month
;
this is no indication, however, of further declines
since the first quarter is normally a slack period.
Generally a higher level of employment is experi-enced
by the building trades during July, August,
and September; consequently there is variance in
employment during the year, particularly among the
larger firms. Although these seasonal factors affect
the building trades, the industry has shown marked
stability in the number of workers who maintain
year-round employment. When the level of build-ing
is high, workers involuntarily separated from
The Atomic Energy Commission's Gaseous Diffusion Plant i
Oak Ridge covers some 600 acres and contains five larg^
process buildings in addition, to 10 other related buildings. .
portion of the plant is shown here; built by J. A. Jones Cot
struction Go.
one job are able to secure another. This has bee
the normal pattern until last year (1954) when cui
tailed construction prevented a larger proportion c
workers from obtaining secondary jobs during th
periods when seasonal limitations forced them froi
their regular employment.
Annual gross wages paid to workers in the buik
ing trades during 1954 amounted to nearly $99 mi
lion. In 1946 a total of $49.4 million was paid i
wages. During the peak employment year of 195;
a record amount of $107.7 million in gross wag*
was established. The $49.4 million in 1946 was pai
to 25,515 workers, resulting in an average weekl
earning of $38.23. Average weekly earnings ha\
consistently increased during the past ten years r<
gardless of employment fluctuations. The large;
individual earning of $58.81 was paid in 1954; th]
being an earnings increase of over 50 percent sin(!
1946.
Because of wide variance in skill levels amorj
construction workers, individual wage payments dij
fer widely. Wage scales generally vary between i
high of $3.00 per hour for skilled labor and a low <
about $1.00 hourly for unskilled workers. Journe;|
men naturally receive the higher pay rates, wit
bricklayers commanding the highest hourly rate, fc
lowed by electricians, plumbers, plasterers, carpel
ters, and painters. Considering the average week
earnings of $58.81 in North Carolina during 1954 8
TABLE II
Proration of Taxable Payrolls and Benefit Charges
Building Trades 1949-1954
Construction Payrolls As Percent of Benefit Char\
Moreh end Planetarium at Chapel Hill, erected by J. A. Jones
Construction Co., Charlotte.
Fiscal l'ear %ofCivered Payroll Chargeabt e to Const rut
1949-1950 4.94% 4.37%
1950-1951 5.6,8% 2.55%
1951-1952.. 6.05% 2.48%
1952-1953.. 5.33% 4.29%
1953-1954.. 4.95% 5.93%
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 81
being payment for a
forty - hour work week,
the average hourly earn-ing
would be $1.47.
New firms employing
eight or more workers
are required to contri-bute
2.7 percent of their
taxable payroll (that
portion consisting of the
first $3,000 of each work-er's
earnings) to the un-employment
insurance
fund in order to insure
their voluntarily separa-ted
workers of unemploy-ent
benefits. After two-lus
years of experience
nder the program, the
mployer is eligible for a
rate reduction. This reduction is dependent on the
individual firm's experience with employment separa-tions,
and the amount of benefits paid to those work-ers.
Normally a firm must contribute more to the
fund than is charged against its account for bene-fits
to unemployed workers.
A total of 1,292 construction firms (83 percent)
have rated accounts during 1955. The combined
payroll of these firms constitutes 93 percent of the
total taxable payroll of the construction industry.
Over 22 percent (296 firms) of the 1,292 firms elig-ible
for rate reductions contribute at the reduced
minimum rate of 0.1%; these 0.1% contributions
had only 10 percent of the total payroll of rated con-struction
accounts. Only 52 firms (4 percent) are
currently contributing the maximum rate of 2.7 per-cent.
The payroll of these firms amounts to 2.6 per-cent
of the total taxable payroll for rated accounts
in the construction industry. The average contribu-tion
rate for construction firms in 1954 was 1.59
percent, 1.25 percent in 1953; 1.51 percent in 1952;
and 1.76 percent in 1951. The average contribution
rate of 1.59 percent in 1954 compares favorably with
other industries, such as manufacturing with a 1.62
percent average. The average contribution rate for
all industries was 1.52 percent in 1954.
When relating the percent of construction firms
receiving reduced rates with all other industries it
is found that construction ranks favorably, with 96
percent of all firms having rated accounts earning a
rate reduction. This is compared with 86 percent of
manufacturing firms receiving the same considera-tion
; 84 percent of agriculture, forestry, and fishing
organizations ; and those industries in a more advan-tageous
position, such as : wholesale and retail trade
with 98 percent receiving reductions ; service indus-tries,
98 percent; transportation, communication,
TABLE III
Distribution of Benefit Charges Building Trades
Fiscal Year
Taxable
Payroll
Benefits Charged
In Rate Com-putation
Cost I
of Ta
'actor as %
xable Pay-roll
1949-50
1950-51..
$ 63,357,000 $ 830,196
86,714,000 274,849
92,813,000 540,680
89,464,000 375,545
81,109,000 1,247,962
Five Year Period
1.31
32
1951-52.
1952-53..
1953-54
.58
.42
1.54
.769
Riegel Paper Corp., Riegel-Carolina 200-ton bleached pulp
plant at Acme near Wilmington: built by C. M. Guest & Sons,
Greensboro.
and utility firms 98 percent; and 99 percent of the
finance, insurance, and real estate firms collectively
qualifying for reduced rates.
Equally important is the amount of benefits paid
to unemployed construction workers, since the per-cent
of benefit charges regulates the percent of total
taxable payroll that must be contributed. Table II
shows the percent of taxable payrolls contributed by
the construction industry during the period 1949-
1954 as well as benefit charges for each year.
For 1953-1954 the percent of benefits charged
against the construction industry exceeded the
amount contributed: 5.93 percent in benefits as
against 4.95 percent share of payrolls. This fact is
not too significant when the entire five year period
is viewed, for during this period the construction in-dustry
contributed 5.34 percent of the total state-wide
taxable payroll but only received 3.86 percent
of the benefit awards. In general construction bene-fits
about equalled contributions during this period
;
however in the special-trades group the amount
awarded in benefits was only about half of the con-tribution
amount.
The cost factor is the percent of the taxable pay-roll
which an industry contributes to the program in
relation to benefits charged ; cost factor = benefits
divided by payroll. Table III shows the cost factor
for selected periods. It can be seen that the 1.54%
cost factor in 1954 was the highest in five years.
The year 1954 was not economically ideal for the
construction industry. Benefits exceeded contribu-tions,
and the cost factor had increased to 1.54 per-cent,
but still the cost factor in the manufacturing
industry (1.70 percent) was higher. The general
recession prevailing during the latter part of 1953
and most of 1954 had an affect on the construction
industry. Unemployed manufacturing workers do
not generally build new homes. More turnover
among the unskilled workers became evident during
this year, and many workers experienced difficulties
for the first time in finding a new job when involun-tarily
separated from their regular employment.
Increased building activity during 1955 indicates
that the industry will continue to contribute signifi-cantly
to the economic growth of North Carolina.
PAGE 82 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 195;
A7
. ('. State Health Building on Caswell
stories high and costing about $578,000;
struction Co., Smithfteld.
Square, Raleigh, si
built by Rogers Coi
Healthy 16-Year Industry Diversion Bolsters N. C. Economy
Hugh M. Raper, Director of Research and Statistics, ESC
The presence of growth usually suggests a healthy-state
of being and this consideration of growth de-velopments
in the unemployment insurance coverage
in North Carolina in the 16-year period (1939-1954,
inclusive) points to the very healthy condition of the
North Carolina economy.
From a national viewpoint the 16-year period from
1939 to 1955 saw a great increase in population and
economic activity. While the population of conti-nental
United States increased from about 130 to
164 million and the civilian labor force from 52 to
64 million, the average number of workers covered
by unemployment insurance increased from about
21.4 million in 1939 to about 35.4 million in 1954.
This represents a change in insured employment for
the nation of 65.4 percent.
Looking at the broad over-all measures of the in-crease
in average monthly employment covered by
the unemployment insurance in North Carolina we
find that the' all-industry growth represented by the
increase from 462,000 in 1939 to 714,000 in 1954—
a
net increase of 252,000—amounts to a relative
growth of 55 percent.
In any consideration of employment advance in
North Carolina in this 16-year period one is struck
by the development of more than 250,000 non-agri-cultural
jobs covered by the program. Practically all
of these jobs in North Carolina represent economic
advance since the basic coverage provisions in this
State have not been materially changed. In this pe-riod,
however, eight of the States lowered their cov-erage
provisions to yield an increase in coverage
that does not represent economic growth. This to
some extent accounts for the higher relative national
advance, 65 percent as compared with North Caro-lina's
55 percent rise.
Rather surprising is the finding that while more
than half of North Carolina's insured workers are
engaged in manufacture the relative growth of the
manufacturing segment has lagged behind growth
in other sizeable groupings, such as: contract con-struction
; transportation, utilities and communica-tions;
trade establishments; finance, insurance and
real estate; and, service industries.
While average covered employment in manufac-tures
had a relative advance of only 36.3 percent
these other segments had relative advances ranging
from 73 to 146 percent. This is explained largely
by the fact that North Carolina's manufacturing
economy had experienced a very rapid growth in the
1920's and 1930's. Manufacturing employment in
1939 represented more than 68 percent of the insured
worker group, but by 1954 this percentage relation-ship
had declined and manufacturing employment
contributed only 60.2 percent of the insured employ-ment.
The real explanation of the lag in relative advance
for manufacturing, however, is found in an exami-nation
of what took place in textile employment in
this 16-year period. In 1939 textile employment rep-resented
almost two-thirds of all manufacturing em-ployment
while by 1954 the textile component was
less than half of all manufacturing employment. In
other words, of all major manufacturing groups, the
relative advance of textiles was the weakest of all
only 14.1 percent. Only leather and leather proc
ucts had a worse experience in the period.
Rather than consider the factors explaining th
low growth rate in textile employment in this 16-yea
period, it seems better to note the manufacturin
fields that have shown both absolute and relati\
(Continued on page 86)
CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT COVERED BY UNEMPLO
MENT INSURANCE IN SIXTEEN YEAR PERIOD 1939-19!
Industry Group
State Total, All Industries
Agrieulture, Forestry and Fishing
Mining and Quarrying
Contract Construction
Manufacturing
Food Products
Tobacco Manufactures
Textile Mill Products
Apparel and Related Products
Lumber and Timber
Furniture Products
Paper and Allied Products
Printing and Publishing
Chemicals.
Leather Products
Stone and Clay Products
Metal Products
Electrical Machinery
Machinery, except electric
All Other Manufacturing
Transportation, Communication and Utilities
Wholesale and Retail Trade
Finance, Insurance and Real Estate .-
Service Industries
Establishment, not classified
1939
462,230
155
1,975
23.294
315. 0L4
11.664
24,762
199,098
6.566
22,195
22,839
4,770
3,413
7,920
1,224
4,028
2.557
62
1.950
1 . 976
16.331
74,782
10.020
20.452
197
ymertt
Actual
1954 Change
713 871 +251,641
1,112 957
3,749 1,774
40.387 17,093
429.436 114,412
21,723 10,059
29,498 4.736
227,235 28,137
18,942 12,376
30,587 8,392
32,946 10,107
10.301 5,531
6,629 3.216
11,230 3.310
973 — 251
6,091 2,063
6,597 4,040
14,216 14,154
7,061 5,111
5.407 3,431
40.122 23,791
138.923 61.141
21.657 1 1 . 037
38.068 17,616
417 220
'
, Chan
From 19
5
6i:
8:
7:
3'
8'
1
1
18
4
11
9
4 1
2l>
c )
•-'(•
15)
22,80)
21 I
1< i
1
"
,nes operate in and from Durham. This industry
iccounts for almost ten percent of the wage earners.
The year 1955 saw a real boom in construction and
dollar value of building permits January to August
ilmost doubled those of the preceding year. Accord-ing
to the North Carolina Department of Labor the
7alue of building permits for the first eight months
bf 1955 was $8,300,000. This was exceeded only by
Charlotte and Raleigh. Employment in this impor-tant
industry averaged about 3,000 persons.
Durham's importance as a trade center is borne
out by dollar value of retail sales and employment in
;hat industry. According to figures made available
oy the North Carolina Department of Revenue, total
ounty retail sales for 1954-55 amounted to $101,-
331,000. "Sales Management" attributed $98,230,-
300 to the city of Durham. The "Blue Book of
Southern Progress" 1955, lists total trade as $183,-
300,000 ; and total business volume as $646,000,000
for the year 1954. Trade employment accounts for
about 20 percent of total wage earners and fluctu-ates,
according to the season, from slightly less than
7,300 to about 7,700.
Two large insurance companies had their origin
in Durham and currently their combined employ-ment
approximates 500. All told, some 140 firms
engaged in finance, insurance and real estate employ
over 2,000 persons in the County. Service, including
(schools and hospitals as well as firms furnishing
business, personal, repair, recreational, medical,
health and other services give gainful employment
o over 8,800 persons. Transportation, communica-tion
and other public utilities hire about 1,600 ; and,
regular government establish-ments,
including public adminis-tration,
account for 1,500.
Durham is a city of a few
large and many small employing
units. Non-manufacturing units,
excluding educational and medi-al,
number about 1,600 and have
an average employment of nine
and a fraction persons. Trade
accounts for 45 percent of these
units and a slightly larger per-centage
of the employment.
Though the average size of these
firms is nine persons, there are
twelve which employ more than
50 and nine which employ over
100. The 130 manufacturing
firms, hiring in excess of 14,000
N. C. State Highway Building, lacing State Capitol. Outside
walls of Ml. Airy granite, costing $1,140,000, erected by Thomp-son
d Street Co., Charlotte, Allen J. Maxwell, architect, L. E.
Wooten & Co., engineers.
persons in peak season, have a high average employ-ment
due primarily to the fact that seven of these
employ over 500 persons, there are fourteen others
which normally offer employment to well over 100
persons. Chief products include cigarettes and smok-ing
tobacco ; cotton cloth such as sheeting, denim and
gabardine ; print cloth and cloth bags ; full fashioned
and seamless hosiery and socks ; packaging and pre-cision
instruments and machines ; headache and
other pain remedies ; and corrugated shipping con-tainers.
With its rail, plane, and bus transportation; its
proximity to a vast buying population and extensive
and diversified industrial areas; its institutions of
higher learning graduating hundreds of well equip-ped
technical and professional people ; and its more
than ample actual and potential labor supply, Dur-ham
has much to offer existing or prospective in-dustries.
Nearly completed tobacco plant of P. Lorillard, Greensboro, on
80-acre site, covering 12y2 acres of one-story space. Overall
cost around $10,000,000, H. L. Coble Construction Co., Greens-boro,
general contractor.
PAGE 86 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall,
MOST OF N. C. LARGE CONTRACTORS
IN ISSUE; WE TRIED TO GET MORE
About 50 of the larger general contractors and
almost as many special trades contractors (sub-con-tractors)
were selected, with the help of officials
interested in the various organizations of these
groups, for special articles to be included in this
issue. Generally, selection was made on the basis
of average employment of the firms in these classifi-cations.
This, it is recognized, is not an entirely
accurate criteria. It is also recognized that some
firms which should have been included have been
left out.
An effort was made to get articles on as many of
the larger firms as possible, to show their size and
importance in the building industry. Time and dis-tance
prevented visits to all of these. Some firms had
to be contacted by correspondence, and several of
these are included. A very few heads of the firms
contacted did not care to have their firms represent-ed.
Others were very cooperative, but failed to fol-low
through, in specified time ; specifically, by not
returning prepared articles with their approval by
publication deadline.
Because compilers of this publication feel that
omission of some of the firms would cause criticism,
it seems necessary to list those given an opportunity,
even urged, to come in, but who failed to respond,
usually by neglecting to return prepared articles in
time. These are:
GENERAL CONTRACTORS
P. S. West Contraction Co., Statesville
Herman-Sipe & Co., Conover
R. K. Stewart & Son, High Point
L. S. Bradshaw & Sons, Salisbury
Wagoner Construction Co., Salisbury
E. R. Morgan, Gastonia (not contacted personally)
D. J. Rose & Son, Rocky Mount
Jones Bros. acres and in addition
has about 150,000 sq. ft. of basement space. This is
a strictly modern building of steel, masonry and
structural glazed tile. The estimated overall cost is
around $10,000,000. The plant was started in Au-gust
1954 and should be practically completed in Feb-ruary.
The P. Loriilard firm started storing hogs-heads
of tobacco in the basement last fall and the
factory should be in operation by or possibly before
mid-year in 1956. Several of the high Loriilard offi-cials
have visited the site and plant at the ground-breaking
exercise and since. These include Herbert
A. Kent who started as sales manager, worked up
through the ranks to president and chairman of the
board, now retired.
Officers of H. L. Coble Construction Co. are H. L.
Coble, president-treasurer; Leon G. Coble, first vice
president; C.J. Kern and D. V. Cochran, Jr., vice
presidents ; C. K. Miller, secretary and assistant
treasurer; D. E. Walker, assistant secretary. Key
men, many of whom, like the officers, have been in
the organization for many years, include John T.
Barker, J. L. Jones, John P. Clendenin and E. F.
Phillips, engineers and estimators ; W. B. Owen, W.
M. Messick, C. E. Kirkpatrick, V. W. Kinlaw, Henry
G. Nettles, James F. Kirkpatrick, W. W. Dill, E. W.
Canoy, P. D. Chamblee, Jr., James I. Simpson, R. L.
Shaver, and Robert Puckett, project managers, con-struction
superintendents and engineers.
William Neal Reynolds Coliseum. State College, Raleigh, cost-ing
over $1,300,000 and seating 12/)00, has handled more basket-ball
fans in past two seasons than any other building in the
Nation. Erected by H. L. Coble Construction Co.
200-room Men's Dormitory, A d T College, (Greensboro, buil
by H. L. Coble Construction Co.
Probably 80 per cent of the construction wor
handled by the Coble firm is in North Carolina, th
remaining 20 per cent ranging over South Carolira
Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama. The firr
employs an average ranging from 600 to 800 worker
and the average annual payroll is approximately $2
000,000.
In addition to the P. Loriilard plant, the Coble firr
is now engaged in several other important construe
tion jobs, such as Outdoor Lighting Plant, Gener
Electric Co., Hendersonville, overall cost $4,000,00
to $5,000,000; Institute of Government Building
UNC, Chapel Hill, with auditorium addition, nearin
completion, $600,000; Airmen's Dorms and Dinin
Hall, Myrtle Beach, ( S. C. ) Air Force Base, U. 9
Army, nearing completion, $1,600,000 ; Phase II, Nik
Guided Missile Plant, Charlotte, nearing completioi
$1,600,000 ; addition to Hosiery plant, Burlington Ir
dustries, Green Cove Springs, Florida, $500,000 ; an
renovation of 208 barracks, Fort Bragg, $2,800,00(
During the past year, Coble has completed seven
other important contracts, including Heritage Furn
ture Co., High Point, overall expenditure, includin
equipment, $1,000,000; Agricultural Building, $400
000, and 202-room Men's Dormitory, $550,000, bot
at A & T College ; Woolworth Store Building, J. (
Penney Store Building and alterations to Pittma
Hospital, all in Fayetteville, approximately $800,00<
Other large contracts Coble has handled in the pa;
six or seven years include the 503-room Men's Dorm
tory, A & T College, supposedly the largest dormitoi
in the U.S. under one roof, approximately $1,000,00(
William Neal Reynolds Coliseum, State Colleg
Raleigh, over $1,300,000; Epileptic Hospital, Raleig
general contract about $350,000; addition to Nori
Carolina Educational Buildin
Raleigh, contract about $600,00<
Ellis-Stone Building, Green
boro, general contract about $1
420,000 ; and addition to Meyer
Department Store, Greensbor
over $1,000,000.
During the war period whe
the Coble firm actually got its b
start in larger construction fro
1941 to 1946, it handled impo
tant projects ranging from on
half million to over two millic
dollars. These included hou
ing project at Cherry Poin
housing project at Augusta, Ga
housing project, Elizabeth Cit;
enlisted men's barracks, perm
Summer-fall, l 955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 95
nent barracks, subsistence buildings, addition to Ad-ministration
Building, addition Post Exchange and
new auditorium, all at Cherry Point; officers quar-ters
at Camp Lejeune ; and Airfield, Kinston.
T. A. LOVING AND COMPANY
GoMsboro, N. C.
T. A. Loving and Company, Wachovia Bank Build-ing,
Goldsboro, one of the largest construction firms
in North Carolina, was started in 1925 by T. A. Lov-ing.
In the 30 years of operation, this firm has de-veloped
and expanded until its gross annual contracts
average between $6,000,000 and $8,000,000. In Octo-ber
1955, the company had in process contracts which
totaled $10,000,000.
T. A. Loving and Company was in operation when
the firm of W. P. Rose Company, Goldsboro, a large
construction firm went out of business, and many of
the employees and officials of the Rose organization
became affiliated with T. A. Loving and Company.
T. A. Loving came to Goldsboro from Culpepper,
Va., in 1925 and began building bridges ; the first be-ing
an overhead bridge on Route 117 near Fremont,
and the second an overhead bridge on the Raleigh
Highway. From this, he expanded into one of the
largest bridge contractors in the State.
John Loving, 18 years old, joined his brother about
two years after he started, is senior vice president
of T. A. Loving and Company, and continues to han-dle
the bridge building operations. Raymond A. Bry-an,
now president of the firm and former secretary-treasurer
of W. P. Rose Company, joined Mr. Loving
as a partner in 1931 to expand operations to include
building construction. C. B. McNairy, formerly with
W. P. Rose Company, joined T. A. Loving and Com-pany
in 1932 and is now secretary-treasurer of the
firm.
In 1937 the T. A. Loving and Company was incor-porated
with T. A. Loving as president ; John S. Lov-ing
and C. B. McNairy, vice presidents ; Raymond
Bryan, secretary ; and these were the four directors.
When Mr. Loving died in 1947, Mr. Bryan became
president, with John Loving as senior vice presi-dent;
W. E. Smith, Jr., and D. C. Rouse, vice presi-dents;
C. B. McNairy, secretary-treasurer; E. L.
Annex to Agricultural Building, recently completed by
T. A. Loving & Co., Goldsboro.
Hospital and admissions building N. G. State Hospital at Mor-ganton,
costing more than $1,000,000, also built by T. A. Loving.
Cook, assistant secretary; and C. A. Allred, assis-tant
treasurer.
T. A. Loving and Company has developed into a
very substantial and extensive organization. The
firm has an authorized capital of $400,000, of which
$250,000 was paid in the early days and later all of
the authorized capital was paid in. The firm now has
capital assets of approximately $1,600,000. The an-nual
payroll ranges above $1,500,000 and at times
reaches as high as $2,500,000. Recent employment
exceeded 1,100.
During World War II, T. A. Loving and Company
erected $40,000,000 worth of buildings at Fort Bragg
in nine months. During that time an average of a
new building was completed every 33 minutes of
working time, and the firm employed a maximum of
32,000 workers with a daily payroll of $150,000. At
Cherry Point T. A. Loving Company and Associates,
in a joint venture, completed $60,000,000 in perma-nent
construction over a period of four years; also
in a joint venture, recently completed a $22,000,000
contract at Fort Knox, Ky.
Probably 75 percent of the construction work han-dled
by the Loving firm is in North Carolina, but con-tracts
are also handled in ten southeastern states
—
from Pennsylvania and Kentucky to Florida, in Flor-ida
and Virginia primarily. Fifty percent of its work
is in institutional construction, including government
buildings, 25 percent is in commercial buildings and
25 percent in utilities and bridges.
T. A. Loving and Company now has under con-struction
contracts amounting to $3,000,000 at Sey-mour
Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro; $1,300,000
at Goldsboro State Hospital ; $2,400,000 at Pope Field
and Fort Bragg; $2,500,000 bridge over Croatan
Sound and various other contracts elsewhere.
T. A. Loving and Company has erected numbers of
important buildings in recent years, particularly at
government installations and State institutions.
Among the important contracts completed are:
Hospital Building, State Hospital at Morganton,
$1,070,000; Low Rent Housing Projects for Golds-boro
Housing Authority, $4,000,000; Operations
Hanger, $1,650,000 and Utilities at Camp Lejeune,
$1,200,000; Ocean Terminal, Morehead City, $2,000,-
000; Carteret County Bridge, Morehead City to At-lantic
Beach, $1,400,000; and Aviation Fuel Termi-nal,
between Morehead and Beaufort, $1,200,000.
T. A. Loving, founder of the firm, was a farm boy
PAGE 96 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall. 1955
from Culpepper, Va., and attended the University of
Virginia. He started building houses in Culpepper
and later came to Goldsboro where he began con-structing
bridges. By hard work and good manage-ment,
he built his firm into one of the largest con-tracting
organizations in the State. He was a member
of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic and North
Carolina Railroad, a Kiwanian, an Elk, a Mason and a
Shriner. His brother, John who joined him in 1927,
is now senior vice-president in charge of bridge and
other heavy construction. He has lived where his
work called him and is now a resident of Fishersville,
Va.
Raymond A. Bryan was also a farm boy and a na-tive
of Newton Grove, Sampson County. He attend-ed
State College and in 1924 became associated with
W. P. Rose Company, being made secretary-treas-urer
in 1927. In 1931 when W. P. Rose Company
went out of business, Mr. Bryan joined T. A. Loving
as a partner, became secretary and treasurer in 1937
when the firm was incorporated, and president when
Mr. Loving died in 1947. Mr. Bryan has served on
the Board of Directors for several years and was
president of the Carolinas Branch, Associated Gen-eral
Contractors in 1940. He is a director of the Wa-chovia
Bank and Trust Co., Goldsboro, on the Board
of Trustees of Meredith College, on the Board of the
Engineering Foundation of State College, member of
the State Ports Authority, president of the Goldsboro
United Fund, on the Budget Finance Board of the
First Baptist Church, an Elk and a Mason.
C. B. McNairy, although a native of Missouri, grew
up in Kinston and attended the University of North
Carolina. In 1925 he became affiliated with W. P.
Rose Company and joined T. A. Loving and Company
in 1932. He became vice president later and for sev-eral
years has been secretary-treasurer of the firm.
GEORGE W. KANE
Roxboro, N. C.
George W. Kane, Roxboro, with additional offices
in Durham, Greensboro and Henderson, was started
as a general contracting firm in 1920 by George W.
Kane, who continues operations as individual owner.
In the 35 years of operation, Mr. Kane has erected
many of the most imposing buildings in North Caro-lina
and has become one of the largest contractors in
the State.
Mr. Kane came to North Carolina in 1919 as super-intendent
of construction for the John W. Furguson
Co. of New York and New Jersey, to build an addi-tion
to the Roxboro Cotton Mills. When the contract
was completed, Mr. Kane resigned and started his
own general contracting firm. Mr. Kane's opera-tions
have expanded over the years to include many
of the State's finer industrial, institutional, commer-cial,
governmental and residential buildings.
In order to be nearer to the construction projects,
Mr. Kane has opened three offices in the State in
addition to the original office in Roxboro. The Dur-ham
office, the main office, was opened in 1923, the
Greensboro office in 1925 and the Henderson Office
in 1953. These four offices have continued to operate
since they were first opened. Mr. Kane, in construc-tion
work all of his adult life, is general manager of
the organization and has in the offices a construc-tion
manager, each an experienced builder, careful
estimator and good buyer.
Among the notable buildings erected by the Kane
firm in North Carolina are 111 Corcoran Street (Hill
Building), 17 stories high; Insurance Building for
Durham Life Insurance Company, Raleigh, 15
stories; the Roxboro Building and Peoples Bank,
Roxboro; the S & W Cafeteria, Greensboro; and the
Hudson-Belk Store, Raleigh; The First Baptist
Church and Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, both
in Greensboro.
In defense construction the Kane firm handled a
housing project of 550 units at Fort Bragg and seven
projects for the U. S. Navy at Camp Lejeune, cost-ing
approximately $10,000,000. At present the firm
has under construction the Home Office Building for
the Occidental Life Insurance Co. in Raleigh ; at the
new Wake Forest College Campus in Winston-Salem,
the Chapel, the Library, University Center, Gymna-sium
and President's Home.
In college construction the firm erected all the
buildings on the old Wake Forest College Campus
built in the last twenty years ; buildings at Woman's
College, UNC, Greensboro ; several buildings on Uni-versity
Campus, Chapel Hill ; and buildings of North
Carolina College, Durham.
Church buildings include the Chapel at Wake For-est
College; First Baptist Church and First Presby-
Durham Life Insurance Co. Building, largest office building in
Raleigh, erected by George W. Kane, general contractor.
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 97
Modern home from model photo of Occidental Life Insurance
Company, Cameron Village, Raleigh, costing around $1,750,000,
formal opening in April, George W. Kane, Roxboro-Durham,
general contractor. Kemp, Bunch and Jackson, Jacksonville,
Fla., architects associated with Leif Valund and James A.
Scovil, Raleigh.
terian Church, Roxboro; Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church, Greensboro; and Davie Street Methodist
Church, Burlington. School buildings include sev-eral
for Durham city and county; Henderson High
School; Person County Schools, Roxboro; Physical
Education Building for Oxford Orphanage and
school buildings in Oxford.
In industrial construction the Kane firm erected
the Bull Durham Factory, Durham, for American
Tobacco Co.; Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Greensboro;
buildings for Burlington Industries, Inc., Greens-boro
; Collins and Aikman at Roxboro and Norwood
;
two additions to Hanes Hosiery Mills, Winston-
Salem ; Roxboro Cotton Mills and Village ; and Erwin
Mills, Durham.
Hospital construction includes hospital facilities,
Jacksonville, N. C. ; Watts Hospital additions, Dur-ham
; Person County Memorial Hospital and Nurses'
Home, Roxboro; Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, Ahos-kie;
Granville County Hospitals, Oxford; and Babies
Hospital, Wrightsville Beach. Other buildings erect-ed
are powerhouse and additions, Reidsville; Mont-gomery
Ward Building and Duke Power Office Build-ing,
Greensboro ; Center Theater, Durham ; and Kir-by
Theater, Roxboro.
Among the fine residences erected by the Kane firm
are the Julian Price, Ralph Price, Howard Holder-ness,
Caesar Cone, Joseph M. Bryan, Alfred M.
Scales, Lynn B. Williamson, and Paul B. Schenck
residences, all in Greensboro ; Ralph P. Hanes, Win-ston-
Salem; L. Watts Norton, George Watts Carr,
and S. P. Alexander, Durham; and D. St. Pierre
DuBose and Larry Flynn, Chapel Hill.
Mr. Kane is a former member of the State High-way
and Public Works Commission of North Caro-lina,
past president of the Carolinas Branch of Asso-ciated
General Contractors of America, Inc., and at
present is a National Director of Associated General
Contractors of America, Inc., past president of Rox-boro
Rotary Club. He has been active on various
committees in both civic and business clubs.
OVER 10,000 NEW EMPLOYERS TO
BE COVERED BY AMENDED ES LAW
An estimated 10,350 additional employers will be taxed and
an estimated 60,000 new, workers will be covered by the pro-visions
of the amendment to the North Carolina Employment
Security Law, effective January 1, 1956, when the amendment
becomes fully operative during the year.
The newly covered employers will be those employing four
to seven workers, inclusive, except for exempted employment,
to be added to the 17,500 employers of eight or more workers,
already covered by the law, and the additional covered workers
of these firms will be added to almost 1,000,000 workers who
have wage credits by virtue of having worked for the already
covered employers.
A break-down of most of the additional workers to be covered
indicates that an estimated 23,300 will be added in wholesale
and retail trade, another 11,350 in the service trades, and about
6,750 in manufacturing, probably about one-third of these in
lumbering employment.
The State's Employment Security Commission, Chairman
Henry E. Kendall reports, is planning to make information
available through various media to employers who may be sub-ject
to the law in the hope of eliminating any misunderstand-ing
as to what firms are liable (covered) or when the first
reports and tax payments are due.
Informational meetings were scheduled in 55 communities
in the State in the last two weeks of January, at which pro-visions
of the law were to be explained by ESC representatives
to all employers to be covered who would attend. In addition,
ESC will send notices to all employers of three or more, up to
seven, for last year, since many of them may expect to add a
worker. This would bring them under the law. Every effort
is being made to advise all who may become liable, so they may
take proper steps to prevent trouble, including penalties, later.
WM. MUIRHEAD CONSTRUCTION CO.
Durham, N. C.
Wm. Muirhead Construction Company, East Trin-ity
Avenue, Durham, was organized in 1924 by Wm.
Muirhead, native of Scotland, as individual owner.
With about ten to twenty employees, Mr. Muirhead
fulfilled contracts in the first year amounting to
about $80,000. In the past five years, total of the
firm's contracts have averaged around $4,500,000,
annually, but in the year 1952, the total of all con-tracts
handled reached $6,500,000.
When Mr. Muirhead started seeking construction
contracts, his first job was remodeling the old C. W.
Tome home on East Main Street. His second job
was erecting a cooperage in Oxford (where tobacco
hogsheads were made for Liggett & Myers Tobacco
Co.).
The Muirhead firm has expanded until it now em-ploys
an average of 250 workers and at times this
number reaches 500. The annual payroll is approx-imately
$1,000,000.
In 1932 Wm. Muirhead Construction Co. was in-corporated
and now has capital assets in excess of
$500,000. Mr. Muirhead is president; Mack Stout,
vice president and chief engineer; E. F. Matteson,
vice president in charge of field operations; A. L.
Muirhead, son of the president, vice president and
secretary, and Eric Copeland is assistant secretary
and treasurer.
The Muirhead firm does more than half of its con-struction
work in North Carolina, although some
large contracts are handled in Virginia and some in
South Carolina. The four principal types of con-struction
are industrial, commercial, and institution-al
buildings and public housing; however, the firm
also builds power plants, water works and sewage
treatment plants, and also carries on city street
asphalt paving operations. The firm a few years ago
took over the McGuire Asphalt Paving plant which
PAGE 98 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-Fall, 1955
A project representing
an investment of $50,-
000,000 has recently been
completed and machin-ery
is being installed at
the General Electric In-dustrial
Controls plant in
Salem, Va. This work
has been done and is be-ing
continued as a joint
venture by the Walsh
Construction Co. of New
York and Muirhead un-der
the name of Walsh-
Muirhead.
An interesting project
carried out by Mr. Muir-head
was the recent de-velopment
of the model
village of Glen Lennox
and the Glen Lennox
Sopping Center adjoin-ing
the town limits of
Chapel Hill. Mr. Muir-head
purchased 130 acres, erected the shopping
center buildings, and built 440 Garden Apartments,
and a few residences. Most of this construction was
done in 1950, with two later additions and the busi-ness
section. This property is listed on the Orange
County tax books for tax purposes at $2,650,000.
Glen Lennox won the National Home Owners Award
for 1951. Louis Graves, Chapel Hill sage, sniffed at
Mr. Muirhead's suggestion of a Country Club name
for this development ; later Mr. Muirhead suggested
Glen Lennox and Mr. Graves approved enthusiastic-ally.
Lennox was Mrs. Muirhead's family name and
there is also a district of Lennox in Scotland.
Another intensely interesting project now being
handled by the Muirhead firm is the restoration of
Tryon's Palace in New Bern as it was when occu-pied
by Royal Governor Tryon. This contract is for
approximately $700,000.
Other projects now in process in addition to the
joint venture in Salem, Va., are installation of all
machinery and equipment in the new Western Elec-tric
plant in Winston-Salem; the Southern High
School, Durham, $700,000, and others.
The State Fair Arena, Raleigh, described as Amer-ica's
most modern big building and the most widely
acclaimed building in modern North Carolina his-tory,
is another Muirhead achievement. Other build-ings
erected by the firm include manufacturing build-ings
and redrying plants, American Tobacco Co.,
Durham; Liggett & Myers warehouses, Durham;
waterworks plant, Rocky Mount, and many others.
Muirhead, a native of Motherwell, Scotland, is a
graduate of the Royal Technical College in Glasgow
in construction and civil engineering. As a part of
this training he worked on several training projects
in Scotland without salary and at some cost. He
came to America in 1922 and spent one year in New
York City, coming to Durham in 1923. He worked
for other firms in the construction of Lincoln Hos-pital
and Trinity Methodist Church before starting
construction on his own. His first office was in a
small space on Main Street, and later he moved into
the Snow Building, a business and office building
which he now owns. He is a past president of the
Glen Lennox, modern and attractive community development
on ISO-acre tract, adjoining Chapel Hill, consisting of shopping,
center, j.'/O garden apartments and, a few residences. Raleigh
Road, lower left, joins Durham highway, left. Developed and
owned by Wm. Muirhead Construction Co., Durham. Outside
residence developments, upper left and lower right.
Associated General Contractors of America, serving
as such in 1944 and has since been treasurer of this
organization. He was president of the Carolinas
Branch of A. G. C. in 1934. He is vice president of
the Board of Governors of the Building Research In-stitute
of the Academy of Science, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Muirhead is a member of the Consulting Con-struction
Councils of America, chairman of the Hous-ing
Authority of the City of Durham, and an enthus-iastic
member of the Board of the American Councils
to Improve Our Neighborhoods, Inc., an organiza-tion
promoted by interested citizens to remove slums
and improve neighborhoods throughout the United
States. Leaving out much of his "Who's Who in
America" sketch, Mr. Muirhead is a member of the
The Governor Tryon Palace, from old draioing, not considered']
too accurate, now being restored at contract cost of $700,000\
by Wm. Muirhead Construction Co.. Durham.
""
THfi TRYON S»AF-^
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 99
First Presbyterian Church in Durham, a Mason, and
a Shriner.
Mack Stout, vice president and chief engineer, who
was captain of the N. C. State Football Team in 1931,
joined the Muirhead firm in 1933. E. F. Matteson,
vice president handling field operations, is a Lieuten-ant
Commander, U. S. Naval Reserve. A. L. Muir-head,
vice president and secretary of the firm, is also
president of and operates the Constructors Supply
Co., Ready Mixed Concrete firm, located in a build-ing
adjoining the Muirhead office building.
GOODE CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION
Charlotte, N. C.
Goode Construction Corporation, Builders Build-ing,
Charlotte, was organized and incorporated by
Roy L. Goode in 1910 and in 1926 received North
Carolina License No. 1 for general contractors. In
its 45 years of operations, Goode Construction Corp.
has never failed to complete a contract and has com-pleted
contracts representing construction in excess
of $150,000,000 in this period.
When Roy L. Goode incorporated his firm, it was
known as Goode Construction Co. With him were
his father, A. J. Goode, and his brother, A. L. Goode,
who were the officers and directors of the firm at
that time. In 1933 the charter was revised and the
present name adopted. In 1941 Vernon D. Goode
started work as a youth in his father's firm, and
after four years of service in World War II, moved
up the line until he became vice president and gen-eral
manager of the firm's operations.
Present officers of Goode Construction Corp. are
Roy L. Goode, president ; Vernon D. Goode, vice pres-ident
and general manager; L. P. Hazel, vice presi-dent;
F. R. Osborne, secretary and treasurer, and
John W. Gustafson, assistant secretary.
The largest contract ever handled by Goode Con-struction
Corp. was the erection of a large number
of buildings at Camp Lejeune, the contract price of
which was in excess of $50,000,000. The speediest
construction job ever handled by the company was
the record construction of the $300,000 Charlotte
Armory in 90 days in 1929, in order that it might be
ready for the Annual Encampment of the United
Charlotte Armory and Auditorium, erected in 90 days in 1929,
hurried construction for Annual Encampment of United Con-federate
Veterans, meeting in Charlotte that year, handled by
Goode Construction Corp.
Memorial Hospital addition, Charlotte, erected by Goode
Construction Corp., Charlotte.
Confederate Veterans, meeting in Charlotte that
year. The first Goode contract was for construction
of the Charlotte Steam Laundry, which was then,
and still is, one of the large commercial buildings in
Charlotte.
Among the other buildings erected in Charlotte by
Goode are the Law Building, the original Mercy Hos-pital,
the recent addition to the Charlotte Memorial
Hospital, the Sears-Roebuck Building, and the recent
General Motors Training Center.
The outstanding record established by Goode is
the firm's operation for ten years at the lowest com-pensation
rate that can be achieved with the Employ-ment
Security Commission. Another record indicat-ing
the high confidence achieved by the Goode firm
is that since 1946 it has completed $40,000,000 in
building construction, one-third of which has been
on a negotiated basis—that is, contracts awarded to
the firm which were not open to competitive bids.
Goode Construction Corp. operates primarily in
North Carolina and Virginia, but is also licensed
and handles construction jobs in South Carolina,
Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The bulk of its
construction work is in industrial and commercial
construction with a fair percentage in institutional
and governmental work.
The firm employs an average ranging from 200 to
250 workers in all of its jobs, the average in North
Carolina ranging around 150 workers. The average
annual payroll in North Carolina is around $750,000.
One of the largest contracts
of its type in the southeastern
states was the erection by the
Goode firm of the Lynchburg
High School with seven and one-half
acres of floor space under
roof. This contract was for $4,-
500,000 ; another was the Roan-oke
Housing Project in Roanoke,
Va., at the cost of $6,000,000;
others are the Central State Hos-pital,
Petersburg, Va. ; Johnston
Memorial Hospital, Abingdon,
Va. ; and Holston Valley Hos-pital
in Kingsport, Tenn.
Roy L. Goode, founder and
head of the firm, is a native of
Alexandria, Va., and studied law.
PAGE 1 00 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1955
He became interested in construction work which he
followed for a few years in his home area, coming to
Charlotte in 1910 to organize his own firm. Mr.
Goode is a former president and has been treasurer
for a number of years of the Carolinas Branch, AGC.
He is a member of the N. C. Licensing Board for
Contractors. Mr. Goode is a member of Saint Johns
Baptist Church, a Mason and a Shriner.
Vernon D. Goode, son of the founder, is a graduate
of the Charlotte City Schools and studied civil engi-neering
at Duke University. He started work with
his father as a youth and became a full-time em-ployee
in 1941 as labor foreman, later becoming vice
president and general manager. Entering service
in World War II as a private, he served in the Corps
of Engineers under Colonel J. Norman Pease, two
years of which were in the South Pacific. He was
discharged as a Captain. He is a member of Cove-nant
Presbyterian Church and the Charlotte Kiwanis
Club.
Melvin J. Maas, Major General, USMCR, Ret,
Chairman, President's Committee on Employment
of the Physically Handicapped: "To a free man, the
individual is possessed of dignity and an eternal des-tiny.
For this reason ... all good citizens should
strive to increase employment opportunities for those
qualified handicapped men and women among us who
seek only work and a chance to play their part in the
drama of life."
Within three years, rehabilitated workers will have
paid back into the Federal Treasury in income taxes
all the money the Federal Government spent for their
vocational rehabilitation.
J. M. THOMPSON COMPANY
Raleigh, N. C.
J. M. Thompson Company, Raleigh, was organized
by J. M. Thompson as individual owner and was op-erated
until 1950 as J. M. Thompson & Co. The firm
was incorporated in 1950. In its 34 years of opera-tion,
this firm has erected numerous buildings in
Raleigh and this area, expanding its business until
its gross annual contracts have averaged around $5,-
000,000 in recent years.
When Mr. Thompson started his firm, his prin-cipal
work was building and re-building residences
and small store buildings. Not more than ten work-ers
were employed in the early days. For several
years the firm has been branching out into federal,
state, county and city construction and into erecting
commercial and industrial buildings. Probably 30
per cent of the work now is in governmental con-struction,
40 per cent in institutional buildings, and
Men's Dormitory, St. Augustine College, Raleigh, erected by
J. M. Thompson Co., Raleigh, Holloway-Reeves, architect.
Nurses Home, N. C. State Hospital, Raleigh, erected by J. M.
Thompson Co., Allen J. Maxwell, Jr., Goldsboro, architect.
probably 15 per cent each in industrial and com-mercial
buildings.
When the firm was incorporated in 1950, J. M.
Thompson had begun to ease up in his activities. He
was named chairman of the board and treasurer.
His two sons became officers, Hal A. Thompson,
president, and J. Wiley Thompson, vice president.
J. E. Merritt, who had been with the firm for ten
years, was elected secretary. When J. M. Thomp-son
died in 1953, his widow, Mrs. Lily B. Thompson,
succeeded him as treasurer. The two Thompson
sons and Mr. Merritt are directors of the firm.
J. M. Thompson Co. is one of the older and more
substantial general contracting firms in the State
and operates under an unlimited and unclassified
license under which it may erect buildings of any
size and of any type. Practically all of its operations
are in North Carolina, largely in and around Raleigh,
although occasionally contracts are handled in Vir-ginia.
The firm employs an average of about 125
workers, a figure which reaches 200 in periods of
large and more numerous contracts. Its average
annual payroll ranges around $300,000 and at times
reaches $500,000, particularly when sub-contract
operations are included.
J. M. Thompson Co. has a number of important
contracts now in process. Among the more impor-tant
ones in Raleigh in process now are the Epileptic
Buildings, State Hospital, $350,000; Baptist State
Convention Building, $300,000 ; Masonic Grand Lodge
Building, $250,000 ; American Legion, State Depart-ment
Headquarters Building, $150,000; Alumni Me-morial
Building, State College, $130,000; Hayes Bar-ton
Methodist Church Sanctuary, $160,000 ; Male pa-tients'
Dining Room, State Hospital, $100,000; ad-dition
to Polk Hall, State College, $120,000 ; Pulp and
Paper Laboratories, State College, $102,000 ; and In-bordenHigh
School, Enfield, $130,000; Trent Park
School, New Bern, $125,000; and other school and
office buildings and filling stations.
Among the important buildings the Thompson firm
has erected in past years in Raleigh are Carolina
Power and Light office building, Carolina Power and
Light Service building, the Tire Sales & Service
Building, Balentine's Restaurant, Land's Jewelry
Store, Jean's Store, Wayland Heights Development,
Longview Gardens School and Shopping Center,
Wake County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Nurses'
Home St. Agnes Hospital, and Men's dormitory, Saint
Augustine College; Nurses' Home, State Hospital;
Southern Railway Passenger Station, Four Oaks
High School and addition to Princeton High School,
Johnston County ; and Gymnasium at Cary and Gar-ner
High Schools; High School and Elementary
School Buildings at Goldston, Chatham County; Ad-ministration
Building, Gymnasium, Auditorium and
Classroom Buildings, Morrision Training School at
Hoffman ; Marine Biological Laboratory at Beaufort,
and numerous others.
Summer-fall, 1955 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 101
J. M. Thompson, founder of the firm, was a native
of Bahama, Durham County, and in his early days
was a machinist working for several years in Rich-mond,
Va., and Goldsboro. He came to Raleigh in
1920 and started his own construction firm, in 1921.
He was a member of the Carolinas Branch, AGC, and
was one of the organizers of Trinity Methodist
Church and was head of its board of stewards, church
treasurer, and on the Board of Missions for many
years. He was a Mason, a Shriner and a member of
the Raleigh Exchange Club.
Hal A. Thompson and J. Wiley Thompson, his sons,
are both natives of Raleigh and both members of the
American Legion. Hal Thompson took construction
engineering at State College and was called into mil-itary
service before graduation. He was a Lieuten-ant
in the Air Corps in World War II, has been on the
Board of Stewards for Trinity Methodist Church for
10 years, is a past president of the Raleigh Exchange
Club, a Mason, and a boat enthusiast. Wiley Thomp-son
is a graduate of High Point College, is a veteran
of the Korean Service in the Army Finance Corps, a
member and chairman of the finance committee of
vVestover Methodist Church, and a member of the
Sertoma Club. J. E. Merritt is a native of Chapel
Hill, an A.B., an M.A. and a Phi Beta Kappa of
Carolina, attends White Memorial Presbyterian
Church and is an Elk. He joined the Thompson firm
i in 1941 and was elected secretary when the firm was
incorporated in 1950.
FOWLER-JONES CONSTRUCTION CO.
Winston-Salem, N. C.
Fowler-Jones Construction Co., 510 Reynolds
Building, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was or-ganized
in 1925, at Pilot Mountain by O. T. Fowler
and C. E. Jones, both natives of Surry County, as the
Fowler-Jones Lumber Company. In 1928 the firm
moved to Winston-Salem. This firm is one of the
chief builders in developing the new Wake Forest
College at Reynolda, near Winston-Salem, and has de-veloped
operations until the amount of its contracts
average around $3,250,000 annually.
Soon after the lumber firm was organized, its
first contract was a four-room house for $850.00.
Mr. Fowler did most of the work with three helpers
and completed the contract satisfactorily. That
launched the building operations. Gradually the
construction work grew and became more impor-tant
than lumber buying and selling. Two years
after the firm moved to Winston-Salem the lumber
operations were discontinued. Without formal
education, these two farm boys have developed one
of the largest and soundest construction firms in the
Piedmont Area.
In 1936 the two partners incorporated with O. T.
Fowler, president; C. E. Jones, vice president and
manager; and D. C. Crutchfield, Jr., secretary and
treasurer. As the sons of these founders grew up
they joined the organization full time. D. S. Jones,
with the firm for 20 years, is assistant treasurer.
G. A. Jones, with the firm for 18 years, is assistant
secretary. O. T. Fowler, Jr. has been with the firm
for five years.
Practically all of the Fowler-Jones operations are
carried on in North Carolina, but some construction
is done in Virginia and South Carolina, and the firm
has license to operate in Tennessee. Although the
firm started construction of residences it has drift-ed
away from home construction and now probably
40% of its work is on industrial buildings, 35%
on institutional buildings and 25 per cent in
commercial structures. Approximately 250 workers
are employed, on the average. This number may go
as high as 325 in periods of heavy construction. The
annual payroll ranges from $900,000 to $1,000,000.
On the new campus of Wake Forest College,
Fowler-Jones has completed the Science Building
costing more than $750,000, and is now erecting
four Men's Dormitories, Law Building, Maintenance
Building and Faculty Apartments, costing around
$4,500,000. Also under construction at this time
are two other projects: Salem College Academy
Annex and Maple Springs Methodist Church, each
costing about $200,000.
Completed over the years by Fowler-Jones are
such buildings as the Western Electric Office Build-ing,
Lexington Road, Winston-Salem, running into
a sizeable figure ; the 1954 addition to Hanes Hosiery
Mills, Winston-Salem, $500,000; two Happy Hill
Garden Housing projects, Winston-Salem, at $2,500,-
000; the Consolidated Carver High School, Forsyth
County, $1,000,000; Library and Home Economics
Buildings, Women's College, U. N. C, Greensboro,
$1,500,000 ; dairy plant of Southern Dairies, Winston-
Salem, more than $500,000; Nylon Mill of Duplan
Corporation, Winston-Salem, $375,000; the Virdan
Motor Lodge and Restaurant of 40 units, Danville,
Va., $300,000; the Northwest Consolidated High
School, Buncombe County, more than $400,000
;
Physical Education Building, Winston-Salem Teach-ers
College, $250,000; Public Library of Winston-
Salem and Forsyth County, more than $300,000;
Initial Unit of Eastern North Carolina Sanatorium,
Wilson, $500,000; Lewis Elementary School, Kins-ton,
$250,000; Baptist Hospital addition, Bowman
Gray School of Medicine and Out-Patient Building,
about $1,000,000, and addition to City Hospital
Winston-Salem, $500,000.
These two men have made good in a big way. In
addition to this business both are engaged in nu-merous
industrial and agricultural activities.
O. T. Fowler has had varied business experiences,
such as horse trading, buying and selling lumber and
farming. He is a pioneer automobile man, having
operated an agency in Pilot Mountain before enter-ing
the Modern Chevrolet Co. in Winston-Salem in
1932. Mr. Fowler has been an outstanding leader
in his community. He served on the Pilot